Whatever the causes of the emergence of diabetes in humans, this endocrine system disease is always accompanied by a chronically high level of glucose in the blood and is caused by absolute or relative insufficiency of insulin.
Regardless of the cause, diabetes mellitus causes consequences that disrupt the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Causes of diabetes
This disease occurs because of the constant insulin deficiency - the hormone formed in the endocrine islets of the pancreas, which are called the islets of Langerhans. Insulin is an indispensable participant in all carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolic processes of the body. On the carbohydrate metabolism, hormone-insulin affects by increasing the intake of glucose into the cells of the body and activating alternative ways of glucose synthesis. At the same time, it inhibits the breakdown of carbohydrates.
The causes of diabetes mellitus primarily cause insufficient insulin production and disruption of its effect on tissues. Dysfunction of insulin, associated with the destruction of insulin-producing cells of the islets of Langerhans, causes the appearance of this type of disease like type 1 diabetes. To show this disease begins, when 80% of the cells stop working.
Speaking about type 2 diabetes, the causes are determined by the inactivity of insulin in the tissues.
The reasons for the development of diabetes are based on insulin resistance, that is, when the blood contains a normal or increased amount of insulin, but the body cells do not show sensitivity to it.
The causes of the development of diabetes mellitus subdivide the disease into two types:
- autoimmune - due to impairments in the immune system;
- idiopathic.
And if the causes of the manifestation of the disease autoimmune diabetes are viral infections and the effects of some toxic substances, for example, pesticides, then the causes of idiopathic type 1 diabetes mellitus have not yet been established.
The main causes of the disease
These include:
- Genetic factors - patients who have relatives with diabetes mellitus have a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and the possibility of developing this disease, if one of the parents is sick, is up to 9%.
- Obesity - in people with excess body weight and with a large amount of adipose tissue, especially in the abdomen, the sensitivity of the body tissues to insulin decreases very much, this facilitates the occurrence of diabetes mellitus several times.
- Disturbance of nutrition - a diet with a lot of carbohydrates and deficiency of fiber will inevitably lead to obesity and the likelihood of developing diabetes.
- Chronic stressful situations - the constant finding of an organism in stress accompanies an increase in the amount of adrenaline, glucocorticoids and norepinephrine in the blood, which has a beneficial effect on the development of diabetes mellitus.
Secondary causes
Long-term ischemic heart disease, atherosclerosis and arterial hypertension reduce the sensitivity of tissues to insulin. A glucocorticoid synthetic hormones, some antihypertensive drugs, diuretics, especially thiazide diuretics, antitumor drugs have a diabetic effect.
Regardless of the cause of the development of diabetes, the diagnosis should be confirmed by several definitions of blood glucose on different days, by conducting a glucose tolerance test and by determining the content of glycated hemoglobin of the blood.