There are two types of diabetes. While both have similar effects - the body can`t process glucose right - different things cause them.

Juvenile diabetes has got its name because most people who have this type of the disease got it when they were children (even though adults can get it, too). Now, it is called type 1 diabetes. This kind of diabetes happens when the immune system attacks the cells that make insulin in a body organ called the pancreas. Without insulin, one develops diabetes. Between 5 and 10 percent of people with diabetes have this kind.

The other kind of diabetes is called type 2 diabetes. With this kind, the body makes insulin, but it either doesn`t make enough, or something prevents your body from using it right.

Until recently, most cases of type 2 diabetes were in older people and adults who were overweight. In the last few years, though, more and more kids are being diagnosed with this kind of diabetes. Most likely, this is because kids today are more likely to be overweight and not get enough exercise than they were in the past. Children who are African-American, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than others.

Because diabetes causes people to have too much glucose, or sugar, in their blood, a lot of people call it sugar or sugar diabetes. No matter the name, though, it's all the same disease.

Scientists do not know exactly how many kids have diabetes, but they do know that doctors are seeing more and more cases of diabetes in kids. And most of these cases are now type 2 diabetes, which used to be very rare among kids.

Text courtesy: www.cdc.gov