There are many Causes of Diabetes, however, the main cause is too much sugar in your blood.  This, in turn, causes a ripple effect, and all sorts of problems begin to occur to our bodies - our cells, nerves, blood vessels, eyes, heart, skin, fingers, stomach, kidneys, pancreas, liver, bladder, knees, toes.

"What the..?"

I know, right?  How could one little thing like too much sugar in your blood wreak so much havoc?  And where does all this sugar come from?  Why is it still floating around in our bloodstream instead of being soaked up by our cells for energy?  Why are all these other body parts affected as well?

As I delved into my research in an effort to seek answers to the above questions, I found that I had to go back as far as carbohydrates, and to the acid that breaks down this mineral into a single molecule.  I found that this acid is released by the pancreas, and this is where one cause of diabetes begins.

People with type 2 diabetes, usually eat an overload of carbohydrates, but instead of exercising to turn these carbs into energy, more often than not, we tend to sit down or take a nap - especially after a heavy meal.  So what then, happens on the inside?

By the time carbohydrates (made up of sugar, fibre and starch) reach our stomach, it is nothing more than a slimy sludge called 'chyme'.  However, this chyme still has chains of molecules bonded together (called polysaccharides), and these must be broken down until they are single molecules (monosaccharide).  They can then enter the blood stream as energy to be absorbed by cells.

If these single molecules are not absorbed, they are stored in the body around our organs as fat, to be used at a later date.  

But let's suppose that after 30+ years of eating mainly carbohydrates with little exercise each day, how would these molecules and enzymes stack up then?  Quite simply, they wouldn't, they don't!

The enzyme 'pancreatic amylase' is an acid that is released into the stomach to help further break down the bonded molecules, but through a thin wall called 'Islets of Langerhans', shelters our beta cells that release the hormone insulin ... this is one cause of diabetes.

Another cause of diabetes is the way our protein folds.  Our bodies are made up of protein, which are made up of amino acids, which are defined by our DNA - and all this goes on within one cell.  Now for various reasons, our DNA transmissions are misread, and amino acids are built according to this new information, what happens to our protein?  It misfolds!  

Do you know, I searched the internet four years ago, asking the question - 'what causes diabetes?', little realizing how complex and fascinating the journey I would embark upon, would be.  All about diet, the types of food we eat;  exercise - especially for physically impaired persons such as myself;  nutrition content;  herbal teas - there's a whole new world out there - let's try it together and 'stamp out diabetes in your life'.

Click here if you would like more information

Cheers
Amelia Robinson
 

The information gathered in this website comes from a number of resources -

medicalnewstoday.com, ncbi.nlm.nih.com, wikipedia, americandiabetesassociation.com, diabetesuk, healthline.com.