Diabetes

Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic diseases which cause a person’s blood sugar or glucose levels to be too high, due to a malfunction in either insulin secretion or the body’s response to insulin.  Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas to normalise glucose levels.  When a person has diabetes, either the insulin is not produced by the pancreas, it is not produced in sufficient amounts or the cells of the body such as muscle cells are not very responsive to the insulin and therefore cannot absorb all of the glucose in the blood.  These mechanisms can lead to poor regulation of glucose levels, causing elevated blood sugar levels, known as hyperglycaemia.  Diabetes is usually a chronic condition meaning a person will have it for life and the impact can be very serious if it is not controlled properly.