The End of Diabetes Read Free

Using drugs to keep glucose under control in individuals who continue to consume this diet will not prevent diabetes complications. The cure for type 2 diabetes is already known—removing the cause can reverse the disease.
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    Understanding the Cause
    Every cell in the human body needs energy in order to function. The body’s primary energy source is glucose, a simple sugar resulting from the digestion of foods containing carbohydrates (sugars and starches). Glucose from the digested food circulates in the blood as a needed energy source for our cells.
    Insulin is a hormone produced by the beta cells in the pancreas, an organ located behind the stomach. Insulin bonds to a receptor site on the outside of cells and acts like a key to open a doorway into the cell through which glucose can enter.
    When there is not enough insulin produced or when the doorway no longer recognizes the insulin key, glucose stays in the blood rather than entering the cells. So diabetes is the rise of glucose in the bloodstream due to a relative lack of the insulin that is responsible for the transfer of glucose from the blood into the tissues or cells. Normally as we eat and the glucose rises in the bloodstream, insulin-producing cells in the pancreas sense the glucose rise in the bloodstream. They then secrete the appropriate amount of insulin to drive the glucose into the body’s tissues, lowering the level in the bloodstream back to an appropriate range.
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    Blood sugar
greater than 125
= diabetic
Blood sugar
110–125
= prediabetic
Blood sugar
95–110
= not ideal
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    When a person has type 2 diabetes, the amount of insulin produced is insufficient to lower the glucose level to normal; the level of glucose in the blood remains too high. In type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, the beta cells in the pancreas have been destroyed, so the body does not produce insulin at all. In type 2, or adult-onset diabetes, usually the body is not adequately responding to the insulin being produced. Fat on the body coats the cell membranes and impedes insulin function. The pancreas produces more and more insulin in response, but over time as the pancreas struggles with the extra workload, it eventually loses the fight and becomes unable to meet the unnaturally high demands. As insulin production starts to falter under the increased demands, the glucose in the bloodstream starts to rise. In both cases, with type 1 or type 2, insulin lack or insulin insensitivity, the glucose rises in the bloodstream. If it gets high enough, it also spills over into the urine. Initial symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, lethargy, excessive thirst, and hunger.
    The body will attempt to dilute the dangerously high level of glucose in the blood, a condition called hyperglycemia, by drawing water out of the cells and into the bloodstream in an effort to dilute the sugar and excrete it in the urine. It is not unusual for people with undiagnosed diabetes to be constantly thirsty, drink large quantities of water, and urinate frequently as the body tries to get rid of the extra glucose. This creates high levels of glucose in the urine.
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    Saving the Life of Type 1 Diabetics
    Only about 10 percent of diabetics are type 1, also called childhood onset (or juvenile) diabetes because it typically begins in childhood. Type 1 diabetes refers to a disease in which the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are destroyed by the immune system, usually early in life. When the body’s immune system mistakenly targets our own cells instead of a foreign substance, it is called an autoimmune reaction. The causation is complicated and comes about partially as a result of an antibody reaction against a viral protein that mistakenly attacks the beta cells in the pancreas.
    In this form, the body produces almost no insulin. It is characterized by a sudden onset and occurs more frequently in populations descended from northern European countries compared to