Diabetes is a life-long disease that affects the way your body handles , a kind of sugar, in your blood.
Most people the condition have type 2. There are about 27 million people in the U.S. with it. Another 86 million have prediabetes: Their blood glucose is not normal, but not enough to be diabetic yet.
Your pancreas makes a called insulin. It's what lets your cells turn glucose from the food you eat into . People with type 2 diabetes make insulin, but their cells don't use it as well as they should. Doctors this insulin resistance.
At first, the pancreas makes more insulin to try to get glucose the cells. But eventually it can't keep up, and the sugar builds up in your instead.
Usually a combination of things cause type 2 diabetes, including:
Genes. Scientists have different bits of DNA that affect how your body makes insulin.
Extra weight. Being overweight or obese can cause insulin resistance, especially if you carry your pounds around the middle. Now type 2 diabetes affects kids and teens as well as adults, mainly because of obesity.
Metabolic syndrome. People with insulin resistance often have a group of conditions including high blood glucose, extra fat around the waist, high blood , and high cholesterol and triglycerides.
Too much glucose from your liver. When your blood sugar is , your liver makes and sends out glucose. After you eat, your blood sugar goes up, and usually the liver will slow down and store its glucose for . But some people's livers don't. They keep cranking out sugar.
Bad communication between cells. Sometimes cells the wrong signals or don't pick up messages correctly. When these problems affect how your cells make and use insulin or glucose, a reaction can lead to diabetes.
Broken beta cells. If the cells that make the insulin send out the wrong amount of insulin at the time, your blood sugar gets thrown off. High blood glucose can these cells, too.