Diabetes
¿Qué es la diabetes? - Information in Spanish
Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal.
Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our
bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the
stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the
cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn't
make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin as well as it should.
This causes sugar to build up in your blood.
Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
For more information, see the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse publication, Your Guide to Diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2
.