Your body changes most of the food you eat into glucose (a form of sugar). Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose to enter all the cells of your body and be used as energy. You have diabetes when your body doesn’t make enough insulin or it doesn’t use insulin properly. As a result, sugar builds up in your blood instead of moving into your cells. Too much sugar in the blood may result in heart disease, damage to the nerves and kidneys and other serious health problems.

There are three types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational Diabetes.  Type 1, previously known as juvenille diabetes, is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. The body doesn’t produce insulin, the hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and food into energy needed for daily life. Five to 10 percent of Americans have Type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes. In Type 2 diabetes, the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Ninety to 95% of Americans have this type of diabetes.

Gestational Diabetes can occur during pregnancy, at about 28 weeks or later. If you receive a diagnosis of gestational diabetes, it doesn’t mean you have had diabetes before conception or after giving birth, but it is important to follow your doctor’s advice about your glucose levels during your pregnancy.

Diabetes Prevalence in California

• One out of 10 Californians – 2.7 million – have diabetes. Of these, some 660,000 adults don’t know they have the disease.
• From 1998-2007 (latest figures available), the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes rose 38% in one decade.
• Prevalence of gestational diabetes increased 60% in seven years from 3.3% of hospital deliveries in 1998 to 5.3% in 2005.
• Total healthcare and related costs for the treatment of diabetes is about $24 billion annually.
• California adults who lacked a high school education were two times more likely to be obese and three times more likely to have diabetes than their counterparts with college degrees.
• Counties in the San Joaquin Valley had some of the highest rates for obesity and diabetes. In 2007, about 34% of the region’s residents were obese and 9.4% had diabetes. 

Additional Resources

Eating healthy is key when managing diabetes. The American Diabetes Association’s MyFoodAdvisor is a meal planning guide with healthy food options and recipes to help keep you on track.

The Blood Sugar & Fears video from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) offers simple steps to prevent or delay Type 2 Diabetes.

Could you have diabetes and not know it? There are more than 23 million Americans with diabetes — and nearly one-third don’t know it, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Take this simple test and see what your risk factors are for diabetes.

The California Diabetes Program provides a Diabetes Health Record Card to help diabetes patients keep track of their tests and when they need them. It also has a space to record test results.