Why Do People With Diabetes Lose Weight?

Every day more and more people get diagnosed with diabetes. According to statistics reported in the documentary Food Inc., one in three people will be diagnosed with diabetes. There are many symptoms that are associated with diabetes including increased thirst, mental fatigue and rapid sudden weight loss.

The Types of Diabetes

Diabetes literally means and is characterized by excessive urine production. There are three common forms of diabetes, two of which are the most common. Diabetes Insipidus is the least common of the three. It is caused by a hormonal imbalance that causes the kidneys in the body to no longer conserve water, thus increasing the amount of urine, while diluting it.

Diabetes Mellitus is the more common form of diabetes, and has two forms. Type I diabetes, formerly known as Childhood Onset Diabetes, is believed to be an autoimmune disease, that is characterized by the body attacking and killing the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Type II diabetes, formerly known as Adult Onset Diabetes, is characterized by a body that no longer recognizes or responds to insulin. This ultimately leaves a lot of sugar in the bloodstream that eventually is removed from the body in the urine.

The Cause of Weight Loss

One of the symptoms of diabetes is sudden, rapid weight loss. All forms of diabetes are characterized by increased urine production. This increased urine production is the cause of the rapid weight loss. In the case of Diabetes Insipidus, the kidneys no longer reabsorb the water, and thus it leaves the body in the urine. In the case of Diabetes Mellitus (I and II), the body's inability to remove sugar from the blood stream (the function of insulin), causes it to build up to the point where the kidneys can no longer contain them, and sugar comes out in the urine. The problem with that is that sugar will carry with it water.

So in the case of all forms of diabetes, the weight loss is caused by an increase in water loss. Ultimately this method of weight loss if hard on the body, and can cause dehydration and further damage if left untreated.