Since insulin controls the storage of energy, including the storage and use of glucose, any defect in insulin production or function results in severe metabolic consequences that we initially recognize by a rise in plasma glucose levels and define as diabetes mellitus. A variety of problems can result in diabetes, but the most common are autoimmune destruction of the beta-cells (type 1 diabetes), and genetic defects in insulin production and function that can be brought out by obesity (type 2 diabetes).

You can also visit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, or theNational Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health.