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PDFDiabetes
Diabetes is what happens when your body doesn’t produce enough insulin, leading to high glucose (sugar) levels in your blood. When your body digests food, glucose is produced. A hormone called insulin helps it get out of your blood and into your cells where the body uses it as a fuel.
High glucose levels in the blood affect the walls of the arteries, making them more likely to develop fatty deposits (atheroma).
Diabetes increases the damage done by some of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease such as smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
Type one diabetes
Your body cannot make insulin. This type usually affects children and young adults.
Type two diabetes
Your body can’t produce enough insulin or it doesn’t work properly. Type two diabetes is more common and tends to develop gradually as people get older – usually after the age of 40. It's closely linked with:
- being overweight
- being physically inactive
- a family history of diabetes.
Almost two million adults have been diagnosed with diabetes in the UK, and this number is rising. And worryingly, type two diabetes is now being diagnosed in younger people.
Some ethnic groups have a much higher rate of diabetes - particularly people of African Caribbean and South Asian origin.
More information on www.bhf.org.uk
