Millions of people around the world are inflicted by diabetes mellitus, or more commonly called diabetes. You may be suffering from this chronic disease without even knowing you have it. Even though it an incurable disease, you can lead a long, normal healthy life if the disease is properly controlled by following the proper treatment method.

Causes Of Diabetes

Diabetes is the result of failure of your pancreas to produce insulin. Insulin is necessary to help glucose enter into the cells of your body where it is used to release energy. When insulin is not available or is not functioning like what it's supposed to be, glucose will not be able to penetrate into the cells. It will remain in your blood and when the blood glucose level is too high it will result in a condition called diabetes.

A pre-diabetes condition is a situation where the blood glucose level is higher than normal, but below the level where it would be classified as diabetes. If both this condition is left untreated, it will lead to other health problems such as renal failure, blindness, heart disease and even liver failure. Persons diagnosed with this condition should get immediate medical attention to avoid further complications because it can be managed quite easily by the patient himself.

Diabetes can be generally classified into 3 categories, i.e. Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational. Type 1 is generally suffered by children or young adults. The most common form of this disease is Type 2 which is experience by most adults and older people. Gestation diabetes is when a pregnant woman experiences a high blood glucose level although prior to her pregnancy, she does not have this condition. This condition may also disappear after she delivers her child.

Is Diabetes An Inherited Disease?

The answer is not too clear. Statistics have shown that 10 percent of children suffering from Type 1 have a close relative with this type of disease. Scientist and medical researchers have recently identified that when a muted gene (SUMO-4) is present, the risk of getting Type 1 in children increases. However for Type 2, the role of genetics is unclear.

Symptoms of Diabetes

Most people do not know they are suffering from this disease because the symptoms can be quite obscure without actually screening for it. Some of the symptoms of diabetes include the following:

* frequent urination especially at night
* feeling thirsty and hungry frequently
* blurred vision
* loosing weight without trying
* feeling tired or fatigue easily
* bruises and cuts which are difficult to heal
* numbness or tingling sensation in your hands and feet
* gum, skin or bladder infection that keeps coming back

Some of these symptoms are too obscure and leads to delayed diagnosis of this disease. Some patients do not even show these symptoms. When in doubt, consult your family doctor and have the screening process done.

Conclusion

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects many people. More than 6 million Americans do not know they are suffering from Type 2 diabetes. As a precaution, persons above the age of 45 should undergo screening, especially if you are overweight. If it is confirmed that you have this disease, do not feel as if your life is ending soon. Get medical attention fast and you will lead a long normal life.

Diabetes and the Preventive Power of Coffee! Type 2 diabetes mellitus is one of the most rapidly accelerating diseases today in terms of number of people afflicted. Theories abound as to why this is the case; however, scientists are now looking at new ways to improve the overall health of those both at risk for and suffering from this disease.

Many of these scientists have found that drinking coffees can significantly reduce the risk and effects of the disease. In a recent study done at the Channing Laboratory of the Harvard School of Public Health, at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, researchers explored the link between long-term coffees consumption and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The study followed over 120,000 men and women for eighteen years. The researchers found that long-term coffees consumption actually reduced insulin resistance, which is the key factor in Type 2 diabetes mellitus. They were able to conclude that long-term coffees consumption significantly reduces the risk for Type 2 diabetes mellitus in both men and women and therefore benefits the health of the coffees drinker. The results of this study were affirmed in another student by the Department of Molecular Medicine, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.

Although this study was of a lower scale (7949 subjects), it found similar results. If the patient came into the study already suffering from Type 2 diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance (also known as insulin resistance or pre-diabetes), drinking at least 5 cups of coffees a day reduced their insulin resistance. This was particularly true for women, who statistically suffer from a larger risk of insulin resistance than men.

The health of those who drank coffees also benefited from enhanced insulin response. The Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion of the National Public Health Institute; at the University of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland, also did a study of over 14,000 middle-aged patients to see if there is a relationship between coffees consumption and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

This study was particularly interesting because the Finnish people have the highest coffees consumption in the world. This study again found that the incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus decreased as the coffees consumption increased. In doing this study, the researchers found that this relationship existed even when the results were statistically adjusted to account for other risk factors, such as age, smoking, weight, alcohol consumption, and filtered/non-filtered coffees.

As mentioned previously, women have a higher incidence of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes mellitus than men. That may be why the Department of Medicine at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Ostra in Goteborg, Sweden, concentrated their study on women exclusively. When they studied 1361 women with no previous incidence of heart disease or diabetes over a period of twenty years, they found that the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus for women who consumed five or more cups of coffees daily was almost half of that of women who drank three to four cups each day.

The study also found that it�s possible that the coffees had an effect on the women�s cholesterol levels, further benefiting their overall health. Finally, the Centre for Nutrition and Food Safety at the School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at the University of Surrey in Guildford, United Kingdom, again confirmed the benefit of drinking coffees with regards to reducing the risk of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

This study focused on the coffees effects on the gastrointestinal hormones that help regulate insulin secretion. The study found that caffeinated coffees actually lowered the absorption rate of the glucose, thereby reducing the effects of the Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Overall, these studies suggest that drinking caffeinated coffees can be beneficial to those looking to reduce their risk of developing or controling diabetes.