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Getting Acquainted
with Diabetes
What is Diabetes? :-
Diabetes is a disease that
develops due to your body's inability to make appropriate use of the foods
you eat as a result of insufficient insulin.
Normally the food you eat is converted within your body into a form of sugar
called glucose, which your cells use as a source of energy. Glucose causes
an increase in your blood glucose level, which in turn signals the release
of a hormone called insulin from the islet cells (the cluster of cells in
the pancreas known as islets of Langerhans) of the pancreas, a gland in the
abdomen. Insulin regulates the level of glucose in your blood and assists in
utilizing and storing glucose in your body.
All human beings need insulin. Most people have enough. If you have
diabetes, however, you may produce none at all or perhaps just not enough to
help the glucose from your blood transfer to the appropriate cells. Without
insulin, glucose isn't used by your cells and thus builds up in your blood.
Diabetes is not contagious. There is no cure for it at this time. However,
the disease can be controlled. This book will help you understand how to
control your diabetes and the importance of doing so.

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