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Latino Diabetes Association
Help make a difference Against Diabetes
BECOME A MEMBER!
JOIN THE LATINO DIABETES ASSOCIATION!
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What is Diabetes
According to the Webster's Dictionary, Diabetes Mellitus - a variable disorder of carbohydrate metabolism caused by a combination of hereditary and environmental factors and usually characterized by inadequate secretion or utilization of insulin, by excessive urine production, by excessive amounts of sugar in the blood and urine, and by thirst, hunger, and loss of weight
It is a result of your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin as well as it should. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, This causes sugars to build up in your blood.
Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
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Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) or juvenile-onset diabetes. Risk factors are less well defined for type 1 diabetes than for type 2 diabetes, but autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved in the development of this type of diabetes.
The causes of type 1 diabetes appear to be much different than those for type 2 diabetes, though the exact mechanisms for development of both diseases are unknown. The appearance of type 1 diabetes is suspected to follow exposure to an "environmental trigger," such as an unidentified virus, stimulating an immune attack against the beta cells of the pancreas (that produce insulin) in some genetically predisposed people.
Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) or adult-onset diabetes. Risk factors include older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, prior history of gestational diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, physical inactivity, and race/ethnicity. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.
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Beware of
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglcemia - reduction of the concentration of glucose in the blood serum below normal levels, commonly occurring as a complication of treatment for diabetes mellitus.
Excessively low blood sugar levels, which can be dangerous.
It is important to recognize symptoms:
*Severe hunger
*Weakness
*Trembling
*Sweating
If you haev any of these symptoms immediately take sugar, candy, or juice. |
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