Diabetes is a metabolic disease caused by the body's inability to use the hormone insulin to effectively convert carbohydrates into the simple sugar glucose that cells store and use to perform vital functions. Without glucose to fuel their activity, the cells use fat instead, producing ketones as a waste product. Ketones build up in blood and disrupt brain functions. Common signs of diabetes are excessive thirst, urination, and fatigue. The disease can also cause vision loss, decreased blood supply to hands and feet, pain, and skin infections. If left untreated diabetes can induce coma and cause death.

There are two main types of diabetes. Juvenile diabetes (also called Type I) occurs when the pancreas, a gland attached to the small intestine, fails to produce enough insulin; as a result, it is also referred to as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Maturity-onsetdiabetes, or Type II non-insulin...