Diabetes - General Information And Methods Of Diagnosis

Diabetes is a very common disease nowadays it is a condition in which insulin is not produced in our body or body becomes resistant to the effect of the insulin.Our body needs energy for our daily activities and insulin is the hormone which is needed to convert sugars and starches into energy. The exact cause of the disease is not revealed yet but there are many factors which play a great role. Person can have this disease due to genetic factors or due to environmental factors like obesity.

According to American diabetes association 7% population of united stated is suffering from this disease that is 20.8 million adults and children. One third of these patients are not aware of their disease. There are some tests which health professionals conduct to find if the person is having diabetes or pre-diabetes. The first method is called fasting plasma glucose test and second one is oral glucose tolerance test. The fasting plasma glucose test is used widely as this method is easy fast and cheap. If fasting plasma glucose test shows the level of blood glucose in between 100 and 125 mg/dl this indicates the condition of pre-diabetes. The diagnosis of diabetes is confirmed if a person is having blood glucose level above 126 mg/dl.

The oral glucose tolerance test is performed after eight hours fast and two hours after drinking of a glucose rich beverage. If the blood glucose level is in between 140 and 199 mg/dl the person is diagnosed pre-diabetes and if it is above 200 mg/dl physician puts the diagnosis of diabetes.

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