In common perception, diabetes is a disease with excessive thirst, and production of large amounts of urine containing an abnormal quantity of glucose or sugar. Often, there is also emaciation with excessive hunger.
In medical parlance, as doctors will tell, diabetes, in its most common form distinguished as Diabetes Mellitus (DM), is a group of metabolic disorders that share the characteristics ( phenotype) of constitution ( genotype) with the environment.

Hyperglycemia, a condition of abnormally increased sugar content of glucose in the blood, results from reduced insulin secretion, decreased glucose utilization, and increased glucose production.

There are several distinct types of diabetes which are caused by a complex interaction of genetics, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices.
Just how this happens? Diabetes is characterized by inability of the body to assimilate or burn up glucose, the sugar formed after digestion of all carbohydrate food. All the muscles and organs of the body cannot perform their varied and strenuous activities without burning glucose. The body machine gets its energy for functioning by converting glucose molecules into and products like carbon dioxide and water.

Insulin, the hormone produced by the beta cells of the pancreas, causes glucose to break down and produce energy in the body. Either because pancreas is diseased or because of disease in other parts of the body, the production of insulin stops or is hampered, thus stopping the conversion of glucose and causing the disease called diabetes. The unutilized sugar flows out in the urine after the blood gets an overdose of it.

The classic symptoms of diabetes are: the passing of large quantities of pale watery-looking urine of a high specific gravity. The diabetic feels dry in the mouth and throat, his thirst for water is often extreme, his appetite poor, he loses weight-although an obese patient may keep his weight for a while.

The patient also becomes nervous and irritable, and suffers from muscular and neurologic pains. He may develop eye trouble, suffer with itching and eruption of the skies. If an infection develops, as a boil or ulcer, it is very hard to heal and may have serious consequences.

All these symptoms develop when the patient is not careful with his or her diet, or remains overweight in consideration of age or height.