What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?
Learn what causes type 2 diabetes. Educating yourself on the causes of type 2 diabetes is the first step to making the changes necessary to control your blood sugar, improve your health and possibly even preventing the disease from developing.
First things first ... What is Type 2 Diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most common form of diabetes, affecting over 90% of people who develop the disease. Being overweight or obese and lack of exercise are common risk factors. Others are listed at the bottom of this page.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin... or the insulin that is produced is unable to be used properly by the cells of the body, which is known as insulin resistance.
The Role of Insulin
To know what causes type 2 diabetes, you need to know the role that insulin plays.
Your body is an amazing machine, made up of trillions of cells. In order for these cells to make energy, they need nutrition in the simplest form... which is sugar (glucose or blood sugar).
It's the job of your insulin to keep the glucose in your bloodstream regulated in a very "narrow range"... not too much... and not too little.
After a meal, your food is converted to glucose and transported into your bloodstream which raises your blood sugar level. This causes a release of insulin from your pancreas which transports the glucose into the cells of your body where it can be used for energy as you need it. This process drops your blood sugar level.
To prevent your glucose from falling too low (hypoglycemia or low blood sugar), your body tells you that it's time to eat (hunger!). Then some of the stored glucose is released from the liver into the bloodstream to help bring your blood sugar back up to normal (see the Normal Range Blood Sugar Levels page).
Yes, this is what happens in a healthy body... but what happens when someone develops diabetes?
What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?
It's important to know that you don't all of a sudden wake up one day and have type 2 diabetes. It takes years to develop... maybe even decades in some people.
Over time, the cells of your body become less and less sensitive to your own insulin... meaning that insulin can't get the glucose into the cells. To compensate, your pancreas creates more and more insulin in order to "hammer" the glucose into the cell through brute force.
This may work for awhile... years, decades... but eventually your pancreas can wear out... exhausted from the years of over-producing the insulin to do its job. The pancreas can then shut down the production of insulin.
With no insulin to transport the glucose, your blood sugar rises above normal ranges... and this can lead to a whole host of health problems such as...
At this point, medication and possibly insulin shots may be needed.
Risk Factors
Genetics can be a factor... maybe diabetes runs in your family.
More and more, physicians and experts are linking type 2 diabetes with being overweight, obesity and lack of exercise.
Here is a list of risk factors to be aware of...
- Have early signs of diabetes/pre diabetes symptoms
- Obesity, being overweight
- Inactivity
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- High triglycerides
- Race: American Indian, African American, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander are all higher risk
- Family history
The more of these you have, the higher your risk. There are other risk factors as well... check with your doctor.
Having a better understanding of what causes type 2 diabetes and the risk factors associated with the disease can help you make different choices about your lifestyle... leading to a healthier life.
ARE YOU AT RISK?
Take the Diabetes Risk Test to
help you determine your risk of developing
pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.
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