What is Diabetes Alert Day? 
Since 1987, the American Diabetes Association has named the 4th Tuesday in March as Diabetes Alert Day. This year it falls on March 28th. Diabetes Alert Day was created as a public “wake-up call” to the seriousness of diabetes and the importance of understanding the associated risks of living with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, this national day aims to raise awareness about the need for finding appropriate care and treatments for type 2 diabetes and, wherever possible, to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.
What are the types of diabetes
The complex nature of diabetes leads to multiple disease forms. Most people have heard of the common types of diabetes, such as type 1 and type 2, and gestational diabetes, but various other diabetes types of diabetes share equal importance.
- Maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) – also known as type 5 diabetes
- Neonatal diabetes
- Wolfram Syndrome
- Latent Autoimmune diabetes in Adults (LADA)
- Type 3c diabetes
- Steroid-induced diabetes
- Cystic fibrosis diabetes
About 2% of people have these other types of diabetes. Some steroid and antipsychotic medications, surgery and hormonal imbalances can produce additional diabetes types. People with diabetes often receive incorrect diagnoses which causes them to experience delayed access to appropriate treatment.
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes occurs because the body fails to produce insulin which regulates blood glucose (sugar) levels. Insulin plays a critical role in sustaining human life. It does an essential job. The insulin hormone enables blood glucose to penetrate into cells where it powers our bodies. If the body destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, a person loses complete insulin production ability.
When type 1 diabetes occurs, the body continues to break down food carbohydrates and turn them into glucose. The glucose enters the bloodstream but there is no insulin present to permit its entry into body cells. The accumulation of glucose in blood vessels continues to rise until blood sugar levels reach dangerous heights.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar. For people with people with type 2 diabetes, it is a serious health concern and is characterized by high glucose levels due to insulin resistance or insulin insufficiency. According to the Mayo Clinic, Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, and millions of people develop type 2 diabetes each year.
What happens when Type 2 diabetes goes untreated?
The importance of publicity like Diabetes Alert Day is that if left untreated or poorly managed, Type 2 diabetes can elevate the risk factors that lead to serious complications that can affect almost every part of the body, including the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. These complications can include heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, nerve damage, blindness, and amputations, according to the Center for Disease Control in Washington.
What are the risks of Type 2 diabetes?
The risks of Type 2 diabetes are compounded by the fact that it often goes undiagnosed for long periods. It can have a very wide range of direct or indirect causes, including genetics, diet and lifestyle. More than 80 percent of adults living with prediabetes don’t know they have it. The disease can develop slowly over time and may not present any symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage. Common symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include increased thirst, frequent urination, blurred vision, fatigue, and slow-healing wounds.
How is diabetes managed?
The good news is that as long as Type 2 diabetes is detected early, it can be managed with proper treatment. There are many special diabetes medications available that help to control the level of glucose in the blood. Most of these are prescribed along with lifestyle modifications such as healthy eating, regular physical activity, and weight management.
What are the treatments for Type 2 diabetes?
For many years, there has been great success in controlling and treating Type 2 diabetes with Metformin. Metformin has been regularly prescribed as a first-line oral diabetes care medication for Type 2 diabetes, primarily for people who are overweight. Usually, a doctor will prescribe it when diet and exercise have failed to control a patient’s blood sugar, but the sugar levels don’t yet require more active intervention like direct injections of insulin. Now, the FDA has approved a new sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in adults in combination with Metformin. It also resulted in people losing weight and lowering systolic blood pressure.
What does GLP-1 have to do with diabetes?
One important recent improvement in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes was the development of semaglutide, another medication that helps regulate blood sugar levels. Semaglutide comes in two forms. It is marketed as Ozempic, which can be taken as a once-a-week self-administered injection, or as Rybelsus which is taken in daily doses of oral medication. These work by mimicking the effects of a naturally occurring hormone called GLP-1, which helps regulate blood sugar levels and reduces appetite. Clinical trials have shown that semaglutide can significantly reduce blood sugar levels as well as lead to weight loss in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
If all other types of treatment fail, patients can be prescribed direct administration of insulin itself, but this is generally avoided where possible since it has a higher level of risk, especially of overdosing which can lead to serious consequences from hypoglycemia.
Is there prevention for Type 2 diabetes?
Despite these treatment options, it is important to remember that the best way to prevent type 2 diabetes and avoid the health problems that follow is to take steps to prevent the disease from developing in the first place. This includes maintaining a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, and getting regular check-ups to check your blood sugar levels and overall health.
Introducing type 5 diabetes.
Each year on Diabetes Alert Day, we’re reminded how important it is to know the signs, risks, and prevention steps for diabetes. Most people are familiar with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In April 2025, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) World Diabetes Congress announced that it now recognized malnutrition related diabetes, also known as maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) as a separate type, to be called type 5 diabetes.
Type 5 diabetes isn’t caused by eating too much sugar or being overweight. Instead, it comes from poor nutrition during childhood, especially when someone didn’t get enough protein or calories to develop normally.
Type 5 diabetes tends to show up in young adults who are very thin and don’t have enough insulin in their bodies. It’s not an immune system issue like type 1, and it’s not about insulin resistance like type 2. It’s more about the body never having built up enough insulin-making cells in the first place. While it mostly affects people in lower-income countries, it matters everywhere, because it changes how we think about preventing and treating diabetes across the world.
FAQs
What is type 5 diabetes in simple terms?
Type 5 diabetes happens when someone doesn’t make enough insulin because their pancreas, the organ that makes insulin, didn’t develop properly due to childhood malnutrition. This is different from other types of diabetes. These people aren’t overweight, and they don’t necessarily have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Instead, their body just never had the right fuel during early years to grow the parts needed to manage sugar properly. It’s a reminder that healthy growth starts with good nutrition early in life.
Why should we be concerned about type 5 diabetes that mostly affects other countries?
Even though type 5 diabetes is more common in parts of Africa and Asia, it’s important to give recognition of a health problem that is so devastating. It teaches us something important: not all diabetes is the same, and not everyone needs the same treatment. Understanding all types helps doctors give better care, and it helps the world build fairer health systems. If we learn to catch type 5 earlier, we can offer less expensive treatments that work better for people who can’t afford insulin.
Can GLP-1 medicines treat all types of diabetes?
GLP-1 RA medications like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy can only treat diabetic patients who have some residual insulin-producing ability – in other words, have a functioning pancreas gland that is not producing enough insulin. This makes them unsuitable for type 1 diabetes, gestational diabetes, and type 5 diabetes. All of these can only be treated with a direct supply of insulin either by injection or orally.
