What Is Diabetes?

"Hi! My name is Brenda Thompson, registered dietitian and owner of Life Skills Nutrition. Today I'm going to talk about what is diabetes. Diabetes is characterized in people who produce little or no insulin. Insulin is the hormone responsible for metabolizing sugars, starches, and other energy producing nutrients. Without insulin, those energy-producing nutrients are flushed out of the body. With proper diet and often times medication, diabetes can be controlled. The cause of diabetes is unknown. However, the lack of exercise, obesity, and genetics are correlated. I'm going to give you an idea of how the process works when someone consumes starches and sugars. When someone consumes sugar or starch, they are broken down into glucose, which is the energy producing fuel inside of the body. Glucose is then transferred through the body via insulin. As you can see, if someone does not have the insulin or is producing very little, they would have problems occurring the body, especially with blood sugars. That is when the diagnosis of diabetes occurs."