Diabetes Research Center
Type II Diabetes
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism - the way in which your body converts the food you eat into energy. Most of the food you eat is broken down by digestive juices into chemicals, including a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose is your body's main source of energy. After digestion, glucose passes into your bloodstream, where it is available for cells to take in and use or store for later use.
In order for your cells to take in glucose, a hormone called insulin must be present in your blood. Insulin acts as a "key" that unlocks "doors" on cell surfaces to allow glucose to enter the cells. Insulin is produced by special cells (called islet cells) in an organ called the pancreas, which is about 6 inches long and lies behind your stomach.
In healthy people, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to enable glucose to enter cells. In people who have diabetes, cells do not respond to the effects of the insulin that the pancreas produces. If glucose cannot get inside cells, it builds up in the bloodstream. The buildup of glucose in the blood sometimes referred to as high blood sugar or hyperglycemia (which means "too much glucose in the blood") is the hallmark of diabetes.
When the glucose level in your blood goes above a certain level, the excess glucose flows out from the kidneys (two organs that filter wastes from the bloodstream) into the urine. The glucose takes water with it, which causes you to urinate frequently and to become extremely thirsty. These two conditions,frequent urination and unusual thirst are usually the first noticeable signs of diabetes. Another symptom you may notice is weight loss, which results from the loss of calories and water in your urine.
Who has Type 2 Diabetes?
Diabetes is a very old disease written records of it date back to 1550 B.C. However, until the 20th century, diabetes was fairly rare. Type 2 diabetes is now widespread in every industrialized country in the world. More than 14 million Americans have type 2 diabetes. Doctors think the reason this form of diabetes is so common today is because increasing numbers of people are eating more, exercising less and becoming overweight. Most (but not all) people who have type 2 diabetes are overweight. As the population ages, more and more people will develop type 2 diabetes, which usually occurs after age 40.
Over thousands of years, the human body has become very good at converting digested food into fat and storing the fat in cells to use later for energy. This ability to store food as fat was helpful for our ancestors, who often went long periods without food. When food was scarce, their bodies could rely on the stored fat for their energy needs.
For us, this ability to store fat can be a serious problem. In developed countries today, food is abundant and always available. We can choose from a variety of foods ranging from nutritious, low fat fresh fruits and vegetables to high-fat, high-calorie snacks and sweets. Many of us choose too many of the high-fat, high-calorie foods. In response, our body does what it has learned to do; it efficiently stores the food away as fat. The more efficient our body is in storing fat, the fatter we become from the food we eat.
The Path Towards Type 2 Diabetes
As you gain weight, the extra weight causes your cells to become resistant to the effects of insulin. The pancreas responds by producing more and more insulin, which eventually begins to build up in your blood. High levels of insulin in the blood a condition called insulin resistance may cause problems such as high blood pressure and harmful changes in the levels of different fats (cholesterol) in your blood. Insulin resistance, the hallmark of what doctors sometimes refer to as "syndrome X," is the first step on the path to type 2 diabetes.
The second step to type 2 diabetes is a condition called impaired glucose tolerance. Impaired glucose tolerance occurs when your pancreas becomes exhausted and can no longer produce enough insulin to get glucose out of your bloodstream into cells. Glucose begins to build up in your blood. If it is not diagnosed and not treated, this gradual rise in glucose often leads to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease in any order and in any combination.
While all these harmful activities are going on inside your body, you feel perfectly fine. Type 2 diabetes is considered a silent disease because it works its destruction over many years without causing any noticeable symptoms. That's why half of the people who have type 2 diabetes don't know it. You or someone you love could have diabetes.
Symptomps
The symptoms of type 2 diabetes tend to come on very gradually and often go unnoticed until problems develop. See your doctor immediately if you have any of the following symptoms:
- Frequent urination
- Unusual thirst
- Extreme hunger
- Unexplained weight loss
- Extreme fatigue
- Blurred vision
- Irritability
- Tingling or numbness in the legs, feet or hands
- Frequent infections of the skin, gums, vagina or bladder
- Itchy skin
- Slow healing of cuts and bruises
Source: American Medical Association