What is diabetes mellitus?

Diabetes mellitus is accurately described as an error in glucose metabolism. This condition involves the body's inability to properly use insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar (glucose) levels. In diabetes, there are disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism, which leads to abnormal blood glucose levels, either too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia).

In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin due to autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells, while in type 2 diabetes, there is insulin resistance and eventually inadequate insulin production. Both types disrupt the normal metabolic processes that manage glucose utilization in the body, highlighting the essence of the condition as a metabolic disorder, rather than one associated solely with other symptoms or causes.