Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9600
ISSN: 2155-9600
Aarif Ali, Mashooq Ah Dar and Aadil Ayaz
Diabetes mellitus is a group of heterogeneous disorders commonly characterized by chronic hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance, as a result of defects in insulin secretion, defective insulin action, or both. Based on the aetiology and clinical presentation, diabetes mellitus is classified as either immune-mediated (Type 1 diabetes), insulin resistance (Type 2), gestational or others (environment, genetic defects, infections, and certain drugs). The major types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is immune mediated and is caused by destruction to the islets cells of the pancreas while type 2 diabetes is caused by a combination of genetic factors related to impaired insulin secretion, insulin resistance and environmental factors such as obesity, overeating, lack of exercise and stress, as well as ageing. The progression of the disease there occurs tissue and vascular damages. This damage ultimately causes severe complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, cardiovascular complications and ulceration. As diabetes mellitus is associated with severe medical complications it ultimately leads to premature death. The complications of diabetes are due to multiple factors, cellular pathways etc. Oxidative stress is one of the factors that cause this complication by generation of free radicals. The damage caused by these reactive free radicals can be minimized by the antioxidant capacity of vitamins especially vitamin C, E, A and others. Besides these the role played by some minerals is also critical. There are several parameters which can serve as a diagnostic to diabetes. Utilizing the methods for the measurement of these biomarkers is thus very critical and of utmost importance. Some of the diagnostic markers which can be utilized for the type of diabetes a patient is suffering from are blood sugar, HbA1c, c-peptide, GADA, glycated albumin and glycated proteins. The main idea and concern of writing this review is to explores diabetes mellitus in terms of its past historical perspective, biochemical basis, economic burden, management steps along with the future perspectives which needs to be taken to minimize the great loss of damage caused by this metabolic disorder.