Type 1 And Type 2 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes usually occurs in childhood A person with type 1 diabetes is unable to produce insulin and can be treated with regular doses of insulin

Type 2 diabetes typically develops later in life, the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes is increased by being overweight In type 2 diabetes individuals produce insulin but their cells are less sensitive to it. This insulin resistance is linked to a decrease in the number of insulin receptors in the liver leading to a failure to convert glucose into glycogen

In both types of diabetes individual blood glucose concentrations will rise rapidly after a meal The kidneys will remove some of this glucose resulting in glucose appearing in urine The urine test is often used as an indicator of diabetes

The glucose tolerance test is used to diagnose diabetes The blood glucose concentrations of an individual are measured after fasting The individual then drinks a glucose solution and changes in their blood glucose concentration are measured for at least the next 2 hours

The blood glucose concentration of a diabetic usually starts at a higher level than that of a non diabetic During the test a diabetics blood glucose concentration increases to a much higher level than that of a non diabetic and takes longer to return to its starting concentration