Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose (sugar) for our body to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose enter the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either does not produce enough insulin, or cannot use the insulin it does produce as well as it should. This causes glucose to build up in your blood. Left untreated, diabetes can cause serious complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, loss of feeling to the hands and feet and lower extremity amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death around the world

There are two types of diabetes. Type I usually starts before the age of 30 in non-obese individuals. This type of diabetes almost always requires treatment with daily insulin shot. Type II usually occurs after the age of 40 in obese individuals and can most often be managed by diet and/or medication (pills not shots). kellyabbot wrote: Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose (sugar) for our body to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose enter the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either does not produce enough insulin, or cannot use the insulin it does produce as well as it should. This causes glucose to build up in your blood. Left untreated, diabetes can cause serious complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, loss of feeling to the hands and feet and lower extremity amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death around the world.