Type 1 diabetes, sometimes called juvenile diabetes is a condition whereby blood sugar levels are above the normal range, this happens when the body is no longer producing the hormone insulin, which carries glucose into your cells where it can be converted into energy. In type 1 diabetes, the cells of the pancrease stops producing the hormone insulin, which is necessary for moving glucose into the cells, where it is burned for energy. Type 1 diabetes sometimes starts in childhood; people with this form of diabetes require lifelong insulin administration and careful dietary management to survive. Recently, it has been reported that stem-cell transplants have been successful in curing this disease. Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of all cases of diabetes. The cause of this disease is in most cases an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks and destroys the cells in the pancrease that produce insulin. Type 1 daibetes usually strikes very suddenly-the person may appear fine one day and be sick the next day.
95% of the people with dabetes have type 2, a disease quite different from type 1. In the cases of the type 2 diabetes, the individual still makes insulin, in fact, he or she may have a huge amont of it-but the cells respond more slowly to its presence. This slowed response is called insulin resistance.
Type 2 daibetes was primarily a problem for older adults. It was very rare for children and people in their twenties or even thirties to have type 2 diabetes,today even children being diagnosed with this disease. The major cause of this recent develpment are obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and a high carbohydrate diet.Kids with this disease are more likely also to have a family history of the disease. Dr Robert Atkins in his book "ATKINS DIABETES REVOLUTION" discussed howtype 1 and type 2 diabetes can be prevented and treated through diet and lifestyle changes.