Diabetes Cookbook

Diabetes is a disease that affects your body's ability to produce or use insulin. Insulin is a hormone. When your body turns the food you eat into energy (also called sugar or glucose), insulin is released to help transport this energy to the cells. Insulin acts as a "key." Its chemical message tells the cell to open and receive glucose. If you produce little or no insulin, or are insulin resistant, too much sugar remains in your blood. Blood glucose levels are higher than normal for individuals with diabetes. There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by abnormally high levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood. When the amount of glucose in the blood increases, e.g., after a meal, it triggers the release of the hormone insulin from the pancreas. Insulin stimulates muscle and fat cells to remove glucose from the blood and stimulates the liver to metabolize glucose, causing the blood sugar level to decrease to normal levels. In people with diabetes, blood sugar levels remain high. This may be because insulin is not being produced at all, is not made at sufficient levels, or is not as effective as it should be. The most common forms of diabetes are type 1 diabetes (5%), which is an autoimmune disorder, and type 2 diabetes (95%), which is associated with obesity. Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs in pregnancy, and other forms of diabetes are very rare and are caused by a single gene mutation. For many years, scientists have been searching for clues in our genetic makeup that may explain why some people are more likely to get diabetes than others are. "The Genetic Landscape of Diabetes" introduces some of the genes that have been suggested to play a role in the development of diabetes.