Diabetes

-Diabetes is a disease in which the body's ability to product or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in an abnormal metabolism and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine

-There are different types of diabetes, the most common ones are Type 1 and Type 2

Type 1
-A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin
-Typically occurs in adolescents
-When a virus invades the body, the immune system starts producing antibodies to fight the infection. T-cells are in charge of making the antibodies which also helps fight the virus, if the virus has some of the same beta cells (the cells that make insulin the pancreas), than the t-cells can actually turn against the beta cells. Once all of the t-cells destroy the beta cells, your body cannot product enough insulin
-Some people cannot develop type 1 diabetes because of their genetic coding

Type 2
-A chronic condition where the pancreas is able to produce insulin, but does not know how to use it correctly
-People can still produce insulin, however the cells in the muscles, liver and fat tissue are inefficient at absorbing the insulin and regulating glucose. The body will then try to compensate by pumping out more insulin, eventually though the pancreas slowly loses the ability to product enough insulin. Then the cells don't get the energy they need.
-This disease can be hereditary, if you parents had the disease it is not a guarantee that you will get it but have a greater chance of getting it
-Lifestyle choices also have a great affect of if you can get the disease or not, if you have a genetic mutation that may make you susceptible, if you take good care of your body than you have less of a chance of you actually developing the disease



Reflection
Throughout this blogger I learned so much about diabetes and the causes of it.
before all I knew was that it had something to do with the pancreas but now I know all about it. Something that surprised me was that there were different types of diabetes and that it could also be inherited. I liked this objective because it really made me understand the disease better and gave me insight to the troubles of having this disease. This can be applied outside of biology because it is not rare to have this disease, a lot of people have this disease and is a topic you could always talk about.

Smith, Daphne E. "Type 1 Diabetes Causes." Endocrine Web. N.p., n.d. Web.

Leontis, Lisa M. "Type 2 Diabetes Causes." Endocrine Web. N.p., n.d. Web.