Blog Post Module 12
One disease of civilization that interests me in particular is diabetes because nearly everyone on my mom's side has this disease and it has negatively affected their health and lifestyles. 34 million Americans have diabetes, which is about 10% of the population. In fact, the United States leads developed countries in diabetes prevalence, which is definitely not something to be proud of. Even further, heart disease, which highly associated with diabetes, is the leading cause of death in the United States, taking nearly 2000 Americans each day. First of all, there are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is caused by an autoimmune reaction that destroys pancreatic B cells, the producers of insulin. Therefore, the pancreas is unable to produce the hormone insulin or makes very little of it, causing blood sugar levels to rise to dangerous levels in the blood stream. Type 1 diabetes is usually genetic and there is usually nothing one can do to prevent it. Type 2 diabetes,