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Type 1 Diabetes

Insulin is a hormone that allows the cells in your body to take up and use blood glucose (sugar). The glucose comes from the food that you eat. In a person without diabetes, insulin is released when needed (for example, after a meal), which allows the tissues of the body to take up the right amount of glucose.

Type I diabetes occurs when the cells in the pancreas (an organ in your body) that normally produce insulin are damaged. In Type 1 diabetes you produce no insulin. It usually affects young people, although it can occur at any age and can develop very quickly over a short period of time.

Due to the lack of insulin, blood glucose cannot be taken up and used by the body tissues e.g. the muscles. Because the glucose is not being used up, levels will rise. High levels of glucose can cause long term health problems.

Type I diabetes is controlled with insulin injections. When insulin is injected, it causes the body tissues to take up glucose, which is then used as fuel. The amount of insulin injected needs to balance the amount of glucose in the blood. Type I diabetes