Diabetes is a disease that sometimes people don’t know much about. There are a lot of myths about how you can get diabetes, about preventing it and how to manage it. We’re here today to explain to you how you can get the different types of diabetes, just to clear up any confusion you may have about it.
As you may know there are two types of Diabetes: 1 and 2. In this article we’re going to talk about both types and how they differ in the way you can get diabetes.
Type 1
Type 1 diabetes is usually caused due to a lack of insulin in the beta cells in the pancreas. In this kind of diabetes, the body simply attacks the healthy cells, rather than fighting to destroy bacteria and other harmful substances. This type of diabetes is the one that is usually associated with genetics. Heredity plays an important part because the genes that are passed down to you may not have the necessary skills to ward of infection, and instead will attack those healthy cells. It is possible that there are certain environment factors that could lead to type 1 diabetes, such as foods or viruses, but these factors have not been determined to officially cause this disease. Overall, type 1 diabetes is largely hereditary and simply comes down to whether you carry a gene variant or not.
Type 2
Type 2 diabetes is probably the most common and well-known version of the disease, and is usually associated with people who eat unhealthily or who are overweight.
The reason behind getting this type of diabetes comes down to a few reasons. The biggest reason is when the body develops a tolerance to insulin, and therefore doesn’t produce enough for the body to function. Someone who is obese or doesn’t engage in enough physical activity will be far more susceptible to developing this type of diabetes. It is proven that by making some lifestyle changes, people can greatly reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Typically people with this kind of diabetes will have higher glucose levels and won’t produce any insulin, which usually correlates with higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood.
Unfortunately, type 1 diabetes is difficult to avoid, since it has to do with the genes you have inherited from your parents, but type 2 diabetes can be avoided if you keep a steady healthy weight, engage in plenty of physical activity and keep a healthy diet.
