Sugar’s Role in Diabetes
February 21, 2008
From Harvard Medical School – Diabetes mellitus is a common disorder marked by elevation of the blood sugar. Diabetes develops most commonly because the pancreas is injured and is unable to produce enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) or because the body’s tissues become resistant to insulin and the pancreas releases too little (type 2 diabetes). Although the majority of patients with type 1 diabetes develop this disease in childhood or early adulthood and the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes are well into adulthood when they develop the disease, the terms juvenile-onset diabetes (for type 1) and adult-onset diabetes (for type 2) have fallen out of favor — either type may occur at any age. In addition, either type of disease may or may not require insulin therapy, though it is typical of Type 1 – therefore, the terms “insulin-dependent” and “non-insulin-dependent” have also been retired. Read the rest of this entry »
High Triglycerides
February 21, 2008
Geri Metzger wrote: What are triglycerides?
Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. They are a major source of energy and the most common type of fat in your body.
When you eat, your body uses the calories it needs for quick energy. Any extra calories are turned into triglycerides and stored in fat cells to be used later. The excess calories are stored as fat regardless of what kind of food you eat—fat, carbohydrate, or protein. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides. Read the rest of this entry »
