Download Demonstration: Demonstrating Diabetes

Demonstration:
Demonstrating Diabetes
Overview
In this demonstration, participants will see the effects obesity can have on the body, inducing the
cause of diseases like diabetes.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the demonstration, participants will be able to:
• Understand the difference in the body’s response to sugar in a person with diabetes and a
person without.
Audience
6th grade to adult
Materials
• Two clear cups/containers
• Water
• Sugar packets
• Plastic spoons
Duration
10 minutes
Activity Preparation
Background Information:
When food is consumed, the body uses a hormone called insulin to break it down into glucose to
be used for energy. If a person has diabetes, his/her pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin or
can’t use the insulin produced to move the glucose into fat and muscle cells for energy or storage
and causes a build-up of sugar in the blood that can cause damage to the body over time. There
are two types of diabetes-type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes results when the body’s immune
system attacks the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body
makes insulin but just can’t make enough or is unable to use it properly and is associated with
lifestyle habits like poor exercise and diet. Type 2 diabetes (formerly known as adult-onset
diabetes) used to almost always be seen in adults, but is being diagnosed in children and
adolescents with increasing frequency as rates of obesity continue to grow.
Demonstration:
Demonstrating Diabetes
Instructions
1. Begin this activity with a discussion about the effects of obesity, asking participants to name
some illnesses for which obesity is a risk factor. [Create a list of answers on the board or on
a piece of flipchart paper. Examples include: diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, certain
cancers, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, asthma, and gallbladder disease.]
2. Fill each container ¾ full with water and place in clear view of all participants.
3. Instruct the participants to imagine that the containers represent a person with diabetes and
another person without. Place 5 sugar packets in one of the beakers and use a clean,
plastic spoon to stir the solution until the sugar dissolves. Continue to add one sugar packet
at a time to the beaker and stirring until the sugar no longer dissolves in the water and sinks
to the bottom of the beaker. Explain that the beaker of water that is now saturated with
sugar will represent the person with diabetes that has high sugar (or glucose) levels in the
blood.
4. Next place one sugar packet in each beaker and stir with two separate spoons at the same
time so participants can see the difference in the rate of dissolution of the added sugar
between the beaker of water saturated with sugar (person with diabetes) and the beaker of
plain water (person without diabetes). Note that the beaker that is saturated with sugar is
less able to dissolve the solute while the beaker with just water easily dissolves the added
sugar. Also note that the sugar has once again settled at the bottom of the beaker, which
mimics the body’s response to sugar in someone that has diabetes, as sugar can’t be taken
up fast enough to be used as energy and remains in the blood where it can cause damage.
Produced with a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30ES010126).
© The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All Rights Reserved.