Juvenile Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic condition caused by the body's inability to break down glucose (sugars) and store them properly. When an individual's system is unable to process glucose efficiently, it will be deposited in the person's bloodstream creating all sorts of multiple health problems.

Juvenile Diabetes (JD), also known as Type 1 Diabetes, is a medical condition in which the pancreas does not make any insulin. Insulin is a hormone which moves sugar from the bloodstream to the cells after digestion, so that it can be used as energy. Insulin enables our body to convert the food we eat into energy which is necessary to function normally. Since individuals with juvenile diabetes produce no insulin at all, they need to receive its injections to keep their blood sugar at appropriate levels. Juvenile diabetes usually begins in childhood, as opposed to Type 2 Diabetes, which ordinarily begins in adulthood, although with obesity increasing among children, more Type 2 Diabetes is being registered in that age group. As such, Type 1 Diabetes is called Juvenile Diabetes as its onset happens in childhood.

Children diagnosed with juvenile diabetes are insulin dependent. Current research indicates that juvenile diabetes is an auto-immune disorder, similar to other disorders such as, rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. A small percentage of individuals may also develop thyroid conditions. Kids who have diabetes look like everyone else. The only difference is that their bodies do not make insulin anymore.

Nearly thirty thousand individuals will be diagnosed with diabetes this year alone. It is estimated that over one hundred and twenty million individuals suffer from diabetes worldwide. And people suffering from Juvenile diabetes or Type 1 diabetes form about 30 % to 40 % of the total.