Aug 11 2008
Types of Diabetes
There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2, the latter being the most common. Although they are both types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2 are very different conditions.
There are also other types of diabetes that affect a minority of people:
Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), gestational diabetes, and rarer forms that are related to infections, medications, and pancreas disease or damage.
Type 1 diabetes
Previously known as “juvenile onset” or “insulin-dependent” diabetes. Type 1 diabetes affects fewer than 1 in 5 people with diabetes. It usually appears during childhood, teenage years, or early adulthood. If you have Type 1 diabetes, you don’t produce any insulin because the beta cells in your pancreas have been destroyed.
In most cases, this is the result of an autoimmune response in which your immune system mistakenly treats your beta cells as foreign bodies and attacks them. This response may be triggered by a viral infection. Although Type 1 diabetes seems to develop suddenly, the destruction of beta cells can start months or years earlier. It is not until your beta cells are functioning at less than 10 per cent of their capacity that diabetes symptoms appear.
Type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin, given by injection or via a pump. You cannot take insulin in tablet form because it would be destroyed during digestion.
Type 2 diabetes
Previously known as “maturity onset” or “non-insulin-dependent” diabetes, Type 2 diabetes affects 4 in 5 people with diabetes and tends to develop after the age of 40. The rising incidence of obesity that is associated with a sedentary Western lifestyle may trigger Type 2 diabetes. It is also becoming increasingly common for children and teenagers to develop Type 2 diabetes for this reason.
If you have Type 2 diabetes, you produce insulin, but in insufficient amounts and/or your body cells are resistant to the action of insulin. Initially, your pancreas responds to insulin resistance by producing more insulin, but, over time, your pancreas cannot keep up with your body’s demand for insulin – this is why the treatment of Type 2 diabetes changes over time.
At first, losing weight, healthier eating, and physical activity may keep your blood glucose level well controlled, sometimes for years. When necessary, you are prescribed tablets that increase the amount of insulin in your blood, improve your insulin’s function, or change the rate at which carbohydrate is broken down during digestion. Eventually, you are likely to need insulin injections, too.
Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY)
This is a rare type of diabetes that affects about 1 in 100 people with diabetes. MODY usually becomes apparent in the teens or 20s. It is similar to Type 2 diabetes but develops only in people with specific genes that cause a defect in the way the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas work. This leads to underproduction of insulin.
MODY can be confirmed by genetic testing. Treatment – as with Type 2 diabetes – usually focuses on healthy eating and physical activity first, then tablet treatment and/or insulin if necessary.
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