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To understand Type 2 diabetes, let’s start with how your body turns food into energy.
Turning food into energy
Simply put, we eat food for energy. But how does food become energy that our bodies can actually use?
Digestion breaks down food into, among other things, sugar, also known as glucose, which it sends out into the bloodstream. Sugar in the bloodstream is called blood sugar or blood glucose.
The bloodstream carries blood sugar to all parts of the body, where it can be used for energy by body cells.
How body cells use blood sugar
There are all kinds of cells throughout the body, some of which are:
- Red blood cells
- White blood cells
- Nerve cells (including brain)
- Skin cells
- Muscle cells (including heart)
- Fat cells
- Bone cells
- Cartilage cells
All body cells need the energy they get from blood sugar. However, even though your bloodstream may be full of sugar, cells have locks on them that won’t automatically allow blood sugar into them. For cells to take in blood sugar, they need the help of insulin.
How insulin works
Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, is the key that opens body cell locks.
When everything is working well, insulin makes sure you have just the right amount of sugar in your blood – not too high and not too low. When your range of blood sugar levels is kept in balance, your cells stay healthy and do their jobs.
A rise in your blood sugar (more sugar in your bloodstream), like after you've had something to eat, causes insulin to be released. Insulin unlocks body cells so they can take up more sugar. When body cells take up sugar, your blood sugar goes down.
All of this happens in a “normal range” of blood sugar levels. When your body isn’t producing insulin or using it well, your blood sugar can go out of that range – going too high or too low.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which the body doesn’t produce or use insulin well, leading to high blood sugar. When blood sugar stays too high for too long, big problems can begin to occur in all kinds of places throughout the body.
Since so much of our body is made of cells, when they’re unhealthy, larger parts of your body can become unhealthy as well. For example:
- Unhealthy cells in the blood vessels of your eyes can impair vision and may cause blindness.
- Unhealthy nerve cells can cause you to lose feeling in your hands and feet. It can also make your brain and vision less sharp.
- Unhealthy skin cells can mean that injuries take a long time to heal.
- Unhealthy white blood cells can’t protect you from illness.
- Unhealthy muscle cells in the walls of your blood vessels can break down, limiting the blood supply throughout your body. This can lead to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.
In order to keep the cells and parts of your body as healthy as possible, it’s important to create habits and routines that manage your diabetes. Part of that is knowing about the kind of diabetes you have.
The basics of Type 2 diabetes
About 95 percent of people with diabetes have Type 2, making it the most common type.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin well.
People with Type 2 diabetes usually take daily doses of diabetes medications to increase insulin production or improve how the body uses insulin. Healthy lifestyle choices are also an important part of managing Type 2.
When does it occur?
Although it’s most likely to occur in older adults – which is why it’s sometimes referred to as “adult-onset diabetes” – it can happen at any age.
Who’s most likely to develop it?
Families with a history of Type 2 diabetes, and some ethnic groups (African American, Hispanic/LatinX, Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander) can share a common genetic history of Type 2 diabetes.
Causes
Other than the genetic risk factors, the following health factors can lead to Type 2 diabetes:
- Obesity, which is a BMI of 30 or more
- Overweight; a BMI of 25 to 29.9
- High blood pressure
- Low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol
- High triglycerides levels
- Heart disease or stroke
- Depression
- Not being physically active
Many of the factors above can be managed through self-care and lifestyle choices. That means Type 2 diabetes can be delayed, prevented, and even improved through healthy living.
What is BMI?
Body mass index is a combination of your body weight and your height. A BMI chart can show you if you are underweight, at a healthy weight, overweight, or obese.
How do these factors lead to Type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes usually starts with insulin resistance. This is when muscle, liver, and fat cells won’t take up blood sugar the way they should.
In response to this, the pancreas floods the bloodstream with insulin in an effort to drive the cells to take up sugar. The more resistant the cells are to taking up sugar, the harder the pancreas works to produce more insulin. In the long run, the pancreas may not be able to make enough insulin to overcome the cells’ insulin resistance.
Symptoms
Many of the overall symptoms of diabetes are experienced by people with Type 2.
- Fatigue (tiredness)
- Blurry vision
- Extreme thirst
- Noticeable hunger
- Frequent urination
- Dry skin
- Slow-healing wounds
What health problems does Type 2 diabetes cause?
So many kinds of cells can be damaged by diabetes that they can, in turn, lead to:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Kidney disease
- Eye problems
- Gum and other dental diseases
- Nerve damage
- Feet problems
The good news is that along with taking medications, making healthy choices can help reduce the impact of diabetes.