Diabetes

Your body breaks down most of the food you eat into sugar (glucose) and releases it into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body's cells for use as energy.

With diabetes, your body doesn't make enough insulin or can't use it as well as it should. When there isn't enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, it can cause serious health issues, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

Prediabetes

Prediabetes is when your blood glucose levels are elevated, but are not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. In the United States, about 1 in 3 adults has prediabetes. More than 8 in 10 people with prediabetes don't know they have it. 

Type 2 Diabetes

The most common form of diabetes, type 2, occurs when your body makes insulin, but the insulin can't do its job, so glucose is not getting into the cells. 

More than 38 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and about 90% to 95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people 45 or older, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is commonly diagnosed in children and young adults, but it's a lifelong condition. If you have this type of diabetes, your body does not make insulin, so you must take insulin every day.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes can develop during pregnancy in women who don't already have diabetes. Every year, 5% to 9% of U.S. pregnancies are affected by gestational diabetes.

This type of diabetes is caused by a change in the way a woman's body responds to the hormone insulin during her pregnancy, resulting in elevated levels of blood glucose. During prenatal visits, it's important to be tested for gestational diabetes to determine if treatment is needed to protect your baby's health and your own.