How Would You Define Diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition in which the body either doesn't produce enough insulin or doesn't use it correctly. Learn more in this video from Griffin Rodgers, MD, director of diabetes, digestive and kidney diseases for the National Institutes of Health.

Transcript

00:00

Diabetes is a condition in which the body either produces too little insulin or doesn't use the insulin that it

00:08

produces correctly. There are two broad categories of diabetes in this country,

00:15

although there are some rare exceptions.

00:23

There is so-called type 1, diabetes formerly called juvenile diabetes, that occurs in individuals

00:31

whose body wages an autoimmune attack against the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

00:39

And over time, as that beta cell mass is loss, there's no longer insulin produced. And these individuals have problems with managing glucose

00:48

levels appropriately.

00:55

On the other hand, the vast majority of diabetes is so-called type 2 diabetes, what we used to call adult-onset diabetes.

01:02

And then, the body does make a sufficient amount of insulin. But the problem is that due to obesity

01:08

and other metabolic constraints, that insulin isn't used properly. In fact, the state of insulin resistance exists.

01:15

These patients often will require medications to either make the insulin that is produced, even a higher

01:23

level, to achieve metabolic control or perhaps use drugs that may improve the ability of insulin

01:29

to work effectively at its target tissues. But over time, they will require additional drugs.

01:36

And then, ultimately, most of them will require insulin therapy as well.