Diabetes blood sugar levels usually need to checked several times a day to be sure that blood glucose is not elevated (hyperglycemia) or to low (hypoglycemia). In order to understand why patients with diabetes need to check blood sugar, it is important to understand the disease.

There are three types of diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile onset or insulin dependent diabetes, occurs when the pancreas organ does not produce an adequate amount of insulin to metabolize blood glucose. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows the muscle and fat cells in the body to absorb and burn blood glucose.

Type 2 diabetes, also called adult onset or insulin resistant diabetes, occurs when the body becomes resistant to the insulin that the pancreas produces. Although the cause of type 2 diabetes is different from type 1, the results are the same. The body becomes unable …