What is it?
Diabetes is a disease that prevents the body from producing or properly
using insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is necessary for converting
sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.
While the cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, genetics and
environmental factors such as obesity, diet and lifestyle appear
to play roles. While there are two types of diabetes, the Peterson
Family Foundation is focused on Type 1, or juvenile diabetes.
Type
1 Diabetes develops when the body’s immune system
destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are the only cells
in the body
capable of producing insulin. Type 1 diabetes accounts for approximately
10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Type
2 Diabetes generally
begins as insulin resistance, a disorder that prevents the body
from fully utilizing insulin. As the need
for insulin increases, the pancreas loses its ability to produce
it. Type 2 diabetes accounts for approximately 90% of all diagnosed
cases of diabetes.
Currently, an estimated 14.6 million people in
the U.S. have been diagnosed with diabetes. Approximately 6.2 million
people have the
disease, but are unaware of it. Together, 20.8 million people,
or 7% of the total U.S. population, have diabetes.
What We’re Doing About It
The Foundation is currently supporting the Diabetes
Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the
UCSF Pediatric
Diabetes Program, Stanford
University Department of Developmental Biology (Oncology Division) and
the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
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