November is Diabetes Awareness Month and today, November 14th, is World Diabetes Day 2011

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• Did you know 9 million Canadians live with diabetes or Prediabetes?
• Did you know World Diabetes Day marks the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who, along with Drs. Charles Best, John Macleod and James Bertram Collip co-discovered insulin.
• Did you know insulin was discovered 90 years ago?
• Did you know there are three main types of diabetes?

 Type 1 diabetes -
- Usually diagnosed in children and adolescents, occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce insulin.
- Insulin is a hormone that controls the amount of glucose in the blood. 
- Approximately 10 per cent of people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes -
- The remaining 90 per cent have type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body does not effectively use the insulin that is produced.
- Type 2 diabetes usually develops in adulthood, although increasing numbers of children in high-risk populations are being diagnosed
Gestational diabetes - 
- A third type of diabetes, gestational diabetes, is a temporary condition that occurs during pregnancy. It affects approximately 2 to 4 per cent of all pregnancies (in the non-Aboriginal population) and involves an increased risk of developing diabetes for both mother and child.
Prediabetes -
- Refers to a condition where a person’s blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. 

Get checked now.  

Today a million Canadians have type 2 diabetes and have no idea.

I referenced the following sites to obtain the information contained in this post.
Diabetes Champion
Canadian Diabetes Association

Monica 

Disclaimer

The material provided on this site is designed for information and educational purposes only. The materials are not intended to be a self diagnostic and/or self treatment tool. I encourage you to use this information as a tool for discussing your condition with your health practitioner.