Type-1 - Insulin-Dependent Diabetes

This is diabetes in its most severe form. It develops when pancreas makes little or no insulin. Without insulin in the bloodstream, sugar does not enter the cells, and remains in the blood. People with type-l diabetes depend on injections of insulin to regulate their sugar metabolism.

Sometimes referred to as juvenile diabetes, it usually develops in childhood and youth, generally during the first 20 years of life. It accounts for 10 per cent of all diabetes cases. This type of diabetes develops acutely, as beta cells of the pancreas, which make insulin, are suddenly destroyed.

Type 1 diabetes may be considered as an auto-immune disease. In most people with insulin-dependent diabetes, the immune system is the reason. The immune system which protects us from invading viruses and bacteria, instead attacks the pancreas, and destroys the insulin producing beta cells. In the absence of beta cells, the insulin production is severely impaired, and as a result, glucose builds up in the blood, resulting in diabetes.

Despite considerable medical research, there is limited clarity about about the cause for the body's immune system to attack the beta cells and destroy them.

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