Diabetes type 2
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for use as energy. If you have type 2 diabetes, cells don’t respond normally to insulin; this is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can’t keep up, and your blood sugar rises, setting the stage for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
People are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes if they have prediabetes, are overweight, are 45 years or older, have a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes, are less physically active or had gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy). It can be prevented or delayed with simple, proven lifestyle changes such as losing weight if you’re overweight, eating healthier, and getting regular physical activity.