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Shabana Safi
Instructor: Riley Rackliffe
Biology 1610 32
Research paper
March 30, 2016
A Life Long Disease
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body cant produce enough insulin to keep
blood-glucose levels in the normal range. Diabetes is also known as diabetes mellitus, the
word mellitus comes from the Latin word meaning sweet or honey. There are many different
types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2, gestational diabetes, and pre-diabetes. Diabetes means when a
person blood sugar level is too high. Diabetes is very common in African- Americans, Asians,
Hispanic, Native Americans and Caucasians. Diabetes can cause serious health problems, such as
kidney disorder, nerve problems, foot infection, and risk of coronary heart disease, stroke or
uterine cancer (American Diabetes Association)
Diabetes has existed for thousands of years, though back in the days there was no
treatment known to man. Children and adults who had this disease would suffer from the
symptoms or die from this incurable, mysterious disease. In 1552 B.C. an Egyptian physician,
Hesy-Ra, mentioned frequent urination as a symptom. Around the same era, an Ancient Hindu
healer documented that ants are attracted to diabetic patient, yet it remained a mystery. Later on,
a Greek physician, Arateus, named this disease diabetes (Dawn Swidorski.2014)
Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile-onset or insulin dependent because the
pancreas is unable to make insulin so, they need insulin several times a day. Type 2 diabetes also
known as adult-onset or non-insulin dependent diabetes. Type 2 patients are able to produce

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insulin, but the body is resistant to the insulin. People can get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at
any age, and it is quickly rising in children. 90 to 95% of people are diagnosed with type 2
diabetes.
Beside type 1 and type 2 diabetes, theres gestational and pre-diabetes.
Gestational diabetes mellitus occurs only during pregnancy, when the pregnancy hormones
produces a lot hormone, which messes up with the insulin which leads to high glucose. Luckily,
gestational diabetes is temporary, so once the baby is born, the mother is safe but in future she is
high risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Pre-diabetes happens when sugar level is high
but not high enough to be have type 2 diabetes and person should makes changes in their daily
routine by eating healthy, lose weight, and be active.
Diabetes becomes an issue, when the body doesnt make enough insulin and insulin is
produced in the pancreas. Pancreas is located in the left side of the body and it plays a big role in
the digesting system and in regulating the body blood sugar level. Insulin is a hormone part of
the bodys control system to maintain a constant level of blood glucose. The insulin lowers blood
glucose by binding to RTK (Receptor Tyrosine Kinase). RTK or (insulin response protein)
signals and binds to other proteins which activates the enzyme glycine synthase and then glucose
gets converted to glycogen (Chapter 9).
Diabetes cant be cured but fortunately it can be treated with insulin, medicines, physical
activity, and dieting. In 1870s a French physician, Apollinaire Bouchardat, noticed that during
the war the provided food was helping his diabetic patients so he recommended that fasting diet,
as diabetes first treatment. Thirty years later more and more treatments were found such as
regular exercising, oral medicines, and insulin was invented to control the blood sugar level and
reduce the risk of death. (Dawn S.) Even today, we use the same method of exercising, dieting,

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injecting insulin with more strong/ effective medicines and blood testing machine that can be
used at home easily. A person can live with this disease but must watch out for their diet, and
keep their A1C level at 7 or below.
I chose to write about this topic because most of my family is diagnosed with type two
diabetes including my father. My father got diagnosed with diabetes because he had the
symptoms but wasnt aware that he had diabetes so, he didnt do much to prevent it. Last year
one of my uncle got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and this month my youngest sibling become
pre- diabetic.

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Work citied
Raven P., Johnson, G., Mason, K., Losos, J. Singer, S., 2013. Biology. 10th ed. McGraw-Hill
Science. Chapter 9. Pg 176.
Dawn Swidorski. Defeat Diabetes Foundation. January 22, 2014. Web March 13th, 2016.
N.P./ American Diabetes Association. Last reviewed June 1, 2015. Web. March 30, 2016.