Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. It occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Your body breaks down most of the food you eat into sugar (glucose), which is your body’s main source of energy. With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. Insulin is a hormone that helps glucose get into your cells to give them energy. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease. There are several forms of diabetes, including:

• Type 1 diabetes: This type is thought to be caused by an autoimmune reaction (the body attacks itself by mistake). This reaction stops your body from making insulin. Approximately 5-10% of the people who have diabetes have type 1. Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed at any age, and symptoms often develop quickly. If you have type 1 diabetes, you’ll need to take insulin every day to survive.

• Type 2 diabetes: With type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. About 90-95% of people with diabetes have type 2. It develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults (but more and more in children, teens, and young adults). You may not notice any symptoms, so it’s important to get your blood sugar checked if you’re at risk. You can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood.

• Gestational diabetes: This type of diabetes develops during pregnancy. Most of the time, it goes away after the baby is born. However, if you’ve had gestational diabetes, you have a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Sometimes diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy is type 2 diabetes.

• Prediabetes: This is a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes is a warning sign that you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Over time, having consistently high blood glucose can cause health problems, such as heart disease, nerve damage, and eye issues[[4]](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/...