Diabetes is a disease where the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is needed to change sugar, food, and starches into energy that is needed for day-to-day life. There is no clear answer for why diabetes exists, although it seems that genetics and everyday struggles such as lack of exercise and being overweight play significant roles in determining whether or not you will be diagnosed with diabetes. There are an astounding 21 million adults and children in the US that have been diagnosed with diabetes. That's seven percent of the total population! It's estimated that 15 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes, but about 6 million are unaware that they are living with the disease. How could six million people be unaware that they are living with diabetes? It's known as a stealth disease in which people are living with it for years, sometimes decades, without knowing it.

Diabetes has quickly been described as a worldwide epidemic. The definition of an epidemic is a disease that affects a large portion of a given population, specifically 3% or more of a population. Diabetes is an epidemic that has joined a short list, but unfortunately growing list of diseases, in which HIV and AIDS is a part of. The World Health Organization predicts that the number of diabetes patients will reach over 240 million people worldwide by the year 2010. With these types of statistics, literally anyone could be at risk to be diagnosed with diabetes. Anyone that is at risk for diabetes due to genetics, obesity, or lack of exercise should follow this guide carefully in order to be completely educated about this growing epidemic.

There are two types of diabetes, including Type I and Type II. Type I diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks the cells in the body that form insulin. The pancreas fails to produce insulin, which leads to a much higher sugar level in the body, which puts a great deal of stress on the kidneys, which leads to complications. For the most part, patients that have symptoms of Type I diabetes start showing the symptoms around the age of 14-15, although they could have already been living with the disease for years. There are many experts that refer to Type I diabetes as "juvenile onset diabetes." Type II diabetes is quickly becoming alarming due to the amount of juveniles now contracting the disease. Type II diabetes is defined as the body's failure to process sugar in the bloodstream, despite the fact and insulin is produced by the pancreas. There are two reasons, first the body does not respond well to the insulin, and second, not enough insulin is produced. Type II diabetes is responsible for more than 90 percent of the 300 million cases of this world epidemic.

Diabetes is a deadly disease that is quickly growing and expanding due to America's new lifestyle. A responsible individual should work on him or herself by practicing good weight management, nutrition, and aerobic exercise in order to deter themselves from ever receiving diabetes.