There are in fact two main variations of diabetes Type 1 and Type 2, and they are quite different in cause and treatment regime. There also exists a type of diabetes called gestational diabetes that only affects pregnant women.

To understand diabetes, we must first appreciate the part that insulin plays in our body. When we eat or drink fructose, glucose or carbohydrates, our system breaks them down into glucose in the blood stream. In order to utilise the glucose to produce energy, our pancreas produces insulin which 'unlocks' receptors in our cells and permits the glucose to enter the cells and be converted into energy.

In Type 1 diabetes the body fails to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels correctly. It is often referred to as insulin dependant diabetes or juvenile diabetes, and it usually occurs in people under the age of 30.

The condition comes on quite quickly and is recognised by excessive thirst caused by a surplus of glucose in the blood stream. This consequently results in excessive urination, another symptom. It is a chronic condition in other words, it is a lifelong condition. It seems that the pancreatic cells that create the insulin could have been destroyed or damaged by the body's own immune system.

Those suffering from Type 1 diabetes make up about 5-10% of diabetes sufferers and it is controlled by administering insulin either by injection or by a drip feed. A missed dose of insulin for a Type 1 diabetic can cause serious problems including loss of consciousness and they are also at risk for serious complications.

There is new technology that has surfaced in the last few years where a transplant of islet cells is done, and although the patient has to take drugs to stop the body rejecting the cells, the new cells are able to produce insulin and patients in the medical trial have reported greatly reduced need for insulin injection. The hope is that the injections may one day be completely eliminated through more transplants of islet cells.

Type 1 diabetics are liable in their later years to suffer from vascular disorders, micro-sight problems, micro-sight problems and kidney problems due mainly to deterioration in the blood vessels.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95% of diabetes cases. Patients with type 2 diabetes are able to produce insulin, but their cell receptors have become resistant to insulin. Thus, their body has to produce ever increasing amounts of insulin in order to 'unlock' the cells so that they are able to extract the glucose from the blood stream. Eventually, these patients get to the point where they are unable to produce enough insulin to reduce the sugar levels in their body.

Type 2 diabetes affects 15-20% of people over the age of 60. A large number of adults remain undiagnosed as diabetes sufferers. It is frequently discovered during a doctor's check-up following complaints of problems such as urinary, skin or chest infections.

Type 2 diabetes can be controlled through diet control and weight reduction or with prescription drugs. Although there is an inherited predisposition to the disease in 80% of cases, it is brought about by being obese, a lack of exercise and eating too much food high in high glycaemic index carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, sugar and fruit).Exercise, weight management and a diet low in fructose, sugars and processed carbohydrates are acknowledged to be important as avoidance techniques.

More alarming is the recent trend of type 2 diabetes cases occurring in children. This is almost certainly due to the prevalence of overweight children, combined with the shortage of exercise taken by overweight children and the diet they follow that is high in sugar and carbohydrates with a high glycaemic index.

Around 4% of pregnant women suffer with gestational diabetes. Most women recover from this form of the illness after giving birth, but it does appear to indicate an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in their lives.

The most common symptom of diabetes is unquenchable thirst and frequent urination. Other symptoms include unexplained weight loss, dizziness, constant fatigue, itching and pain in the legs whilst walking.

If diabetes just meant taking insulin for the rest of your life, it wouldn't be such a serious disorder. Diabetics have a variety of elevated risks including:

- double the rate of heart disease as non-diabetics

- five times the risk of having a stroke

- the most frequent need for limb amputations discounting accidents

- blindness; of the new cases of blindness in people aged between 24 and 74, diabetes is the leading cause

- the cause of over one third of new cases of kidney disease and the major cause of end-stage renal disease.

Accurate and consistent management of blood sugars lowers the odds of any of the above occurring.