How would you define diabetes?

Griffin Rodgers, MD, Director of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), offers clarity on the definition of diabetes.

Transcript

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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. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:23

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

00:30

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 lost, there is 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 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 level

01:23

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.