ges throughout the body. Messages are like commands. They tell the body what to do. Humans produce many hormones. The organ that produces insulin is the pancreas. The pancreas is a long, funny shaped organ that lies just behind the stomach. The function of insulin is to let our bodies use what we consume. Without insulin we would die. Insulin is like a key, while body cells are like a lock. Insulin allows letting the body cells take in sugar. Lack of insulin means the sugar will build up in a person’s blood stream of entering the cells. When this happens essential body organs do not get fed such as the heart, and the brain. Too much sugar in the blood is dangerous. More than 13 million Americans have Type II diabetes. What is so stunning is about half of this number don’t know they have the disease. Doctors are still trying to find out what causes Type II diabetes. Scientists have come to the conclusion that it isn’t an autoimmune disease, but they haven't linked it to any one virus. The immune system is supposed to attack harmful germs in the body. When someone has an autoimmune disease, the signals get mixed up. Through scientific research the disease diabetes has been linked back to thousands of years ago. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks could tell that people had diabetes because they were thirsty and had to urinate frequently. A writer of the time described the disease as “ a melting down of the flesh and limbs into urine.” Others found out that the urine of diabetes tasted sugary. (Taylor)Those with Type II often died of the problems it caused. When it was observed that diabetes was linked to a person’s use of food, doctors concluded that certain diets would help out. At the beginning of the twentieth century, diabetes practiced fad diets composed of oat cure, the milk diet, and the rice cure and potato therapy. It would sound outrageous today, but a successful practice in pr...
