All About Diabetes

The term diabetes was coined by Aretaeus of Cappadocia. It is derived from the Greek word, diabaínein that literally means "passing through," or "siphon," a reference to one of diabetes' major symptoms—excessive urine production.

In 1675 Thomas Willis added mellitus from the Latin word for honey (mel in the sense of "honey sweet") when he noted that the blood and urine of a diabetic has a sweet taste. This had been noticed long before in ancient times by the Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians, and Indians. In 1776 Matthew Dobson confirmed the sweet taste was because of an excess of a kind of sugar in the urine and blood of people with diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by persistent hyperglycemia (high glucose blood sugar). It is a disease in which the body does not produce enough or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.

According to the World Health Organization, it recognizes three main forms of diabetes: type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes (or type 3, occurring during pregnancy), although these three "types" of diabetes are more accurately considered patterns of pancreatic failure rather than single diseases.

Testing for Diabetes

The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles. In order to determine whether or not a patient has pre-diabetes or diabetes, health care providers conduct a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). Either test can be used to diagnose pre-diabetes or diabetes.

With the FPG test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes. A person with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has diabetes.In the OGTT test, a person's blood glucose level is measured after a fast and two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage. If the two-hour blood glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl, the person tested has pre-diabetes. If the two-hour blood glucose level is at 200 mg/dl or higher, the person tested has diabetes.