What is diabetes?

Diabetes mellitus, to give the disease its full name, is a chronic metabolic disorder, with a strong hereditary base, associated with high blood sugar and usually with the passage of sugar in the urine.

While defining diabetes, it was said that it is a condition arising due either to  arising either due to (1) relative or absolute deficiency of a digestive hormone called insulin of (2) inability or resistance of body-cells to use the available insulin. The disorder completely throws the metabolism of dietary carbohydrates, fats and proteins into disarray.

Diabetes is caused by an inadequate supply of insulin which is produced by the pancreas to metabolise sugar and starch. There is an excessive accumulation of glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood. Sugar provides us with energy and is an essentials part of our diet. Apart from sugar itself, our main source is carbohydrates which are found aplenty in potatoes, bread, rice, cake and biscuits. They are converted during digestion to glucose which is absorbed into the blood stream and carried to energize the muscles and other tissues, or stored in the liver for future use.

Normally the hormone insulin (produced by the pancreatic gland) controls the levels of glucose in our blood, but in diabetes, it fails to do.