There are basically two types of diabetes, Type I or childhood onset diabetes and Type II or adult onset diabetes. In type I, which generally occurs earlier in life, children incur damage to the pancreas, the organ that produces and secretes insulin, so they have an insulin deficiency. In type II, the individual still produces near-normal levels of insulin, however the body is resistant to it, so the level of blood sugar, or glucose, rises. Both types of diabetes accelerate the aging of our bodies. Having diabetes greatly accelerates the development of atherosclerosis or cardiovascular disease.
Diabetes also ages and destroys the kidney and other body systems.
Forty thousand amputations per year are due to complications of diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults. It is also the leading cause of kidney failure. The over-production of triglycerides in particular is probably related to the increased flux of glucose and fatty acid substrates to the liver. Unfortunately, at any given cholesterol or triglyceride level diabetics have a much higher risk of coronary heart disease, compared to the non diabetic population.