DM as it is popularly called is a metabolic hormonal disorder. It is caused when the hormone "insulin" produced by the pancreas starts playing truant in the body. The two major forms of diabetes are type 1 (previously called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes) and type 2 (previously called non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or maturity-onset diabetes). Both diabetes type 1 and type 2 share one central feature: elevated blood sugar (glucose) levels due to absolute or relative insufficiencies of insulin.