Essays on Glucose Tolerance Test

Introduction

This review covers the pathophysiology, diagnosis, epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, management and complications associated with diabetes mellitus commonly known as diabetes, a disorder that affects more than 385 million people worldwide (idf.org). The long term prognosis and impact on the quality of life are also discussed. Diabetes is defined by the American diabetes association as a group of disorders that are characterized by hyperglycemia stemming from deficiency in the activity of insulin or reduced insulin secretion, or both. There are three main types of diabetes namely type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. Diabetes mellitus has no cure. It is a lifelong ...

Diabetes Facts

What is diabetes? It is a chronic condition, characterized by excessive amounts of blood sugar or glucose. Its full name is diabetes mellitus, although for the remainder of this paper the commonly used name diabetes will be used. When there is too much glucose in the blood – a condition known as hyperglycemia – glucose finds its way into the urine, which gave rise to the term “sweet urine.” (Stöppler and Shiel (Ed.), 2012). Glucose – in addition to being a simple sugar contained in various foods – is also a nutrient essential to the normal functioning of cells in the body. Carbohydrates in food ...

The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is the most common test used for assessing of the body’s ability to breakdown glucose/ carbohydrate. The test evaluates the level of the clearance of glucose from the blood through measuring blood glucose from samples taken at intervals of 30 minutes against the initial glucose following an oral intake of a glucose solution (about 1.75g/kg body weight) after fasting for 8-12 hours. Impaired glucose metabolism, which is a sign of underlying disease states such as type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, gestational diabetes etc., is indicated by elevated glucose levels (>140 mg/dl) after 2 ...

Diabetes Mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders that is clarified by hyperglycemia. There are many forms of this disease and the reason for hyperglycemia may be either reduced insulin secretion, decreased glucose utilization by the tissues, and increased glucose production. Diabetes causes many secondary physiological changes in the body leading to diverse affects on different organ systems; as well as being a burden to the patient and the healthcare system as a whole. Diabetes Mellitus is the leading cause of end stage renal disease as well as the leading cause of non-traumatic limb amputation and adult blindness. In the future it ...

Introduction

Glucose- a monosaccharide- is one of the simplest sugars utilized as a primary source of energyat the cellular level. Glucose is essential because some vital organs such as the brain and the red blood cells wholly rely on it as an energy source.

With reference to glucose metabolism, the glycolytic pathway(figure 1) offers the fastest means to energy production. Hence in case of energy deficit the body will break down any available glucose prior to utilizing other sources of energy such as amino acids, pyruvate and glycerol. Glucose is usually preserved in the body as glycogen (polysaccharide) especially in the ...