Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes from the food you eat. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas helps glucose from food get into your cells to be used for energy. Sometimes your body doesn’t make enough—or any—insulin or doesn’t use insulin well. Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells.

  • Diabetes affects about 30.3 million Americans or about 9.4 percent of the U.S. population.

  • Another 84.1 million Americans have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

  • Nine out of 10 adults with prediabetes don’t know they have it.

  • Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, though it often appears during childhood or adolescence. Their bodies cannot produce insulin. People need to take insulin daily.

  • Type 2 diabetes is the more common type, which the body doesn’t produce enough insulin. This can be controlled by daily insulin injections or oral medication.

For more information, please see:
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/communication-programs/ndep/partner-community-organization-information/diabetes-

To take a risk health assessment:
http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/diabetes-risk-test/