What is Behind the Epidemic of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Teens in the U.S.?

by Gary Pepper, M.D. and Andrew Levine, Pre-med

If you ask the average person to define diabetes, a typical response might be “it’s when you have unhealthy eating habits and an overabundance of sugar in your blood.”  Although that is not far from the truth, a more accurate definition is that diabetes is a disorder in the way our body uses insulin to process digested food for energy and storage. A good part of what we eat is broken down into glucose, the principle form of sugar in the blood. Diabetes occurs when there is not enough insulin to push the glucose into our cells. This deprives the body of the energy it needs because glucose is metabolized as fuel by all the organs in the body. Therefore in diabetes despite an elevated amount of sugar in the blood,  the cells are actually starving for energy.  We sometimes conceive of glucose in the blood as the enemy , but without it we would die. (more…)

Verified by MonsterInsights