Type 2 diabetics have trouble controlling their blood sugar levels not because they can't produce enough insulin (as is the case with Type 1 diabetics), but because they are resistant to insulin.
Therefore, it is felt the most likely cause of Type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance.
What is Insulin Resistance? Insulin resistance is a metabolic disorder where the cells become insensitive to the effect of insulin.
Resistance to insulin does not differentiate between insulin secreted naturally by the pancreas or insulin administered by injection.
In many cases this condition can exist undetected for years...
often prediabetics are resistant to insulin for over a decade before the problem becomes severe.
When your diet is full of empty calories and quickly absorbed sugars and carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, your cells slowly become resistant to the effects of insulin and more and more is needed to carry out the same job of keeping your blood sugar even.
Your pancreas becomes overloaded with work after secreting more insulin than your body can cope with, it then starts to fail and your blood sugars commence to rise.
Why Insulin Resistance is Dangerous? Now your body has trouble processing the glucose entering your body through food and beverages.
You may have a normal amount of insulin available in your bloodstream, but it doesn't properly transport glucose into your muscle cells to be converted into and stored as glycogen (which can be used for energy later).
This means less energy, more sugar dumped into your circulation, and added strain on your liver and kidneys.
How Insulin Resistance Works: Whereas Type 1 diabetes is a disease of the pancreas, insulin resistance is an issue in the cells that respond to insulin.
Insulin receptors (in the membranes of responsive cells), are composed of many sub-units.
A problem (mutation or malfunction), of any of these subunits can impair the receptor's ability to recognize insulin.
In addition, there can also be a breakdown in communication between the receptors in the cell membrane and inside the cell itself...
where the 'machinery' for processing the glucose is found.
The insulin may be delivered, but the cell forgets how to use it.
Failure at any point on the cellular chain can result in insulin resistance.
Risk Factors for Insulin Resistance: There are several factors which can increase the likelihood or severity of resistance to insulin...
Therefore, it is felt the most likely cause of Type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance.
What is Insulin Resistance? Insulin resistance is a metabolic disorder where the cells become insensitive to the effect of insulin.
Resistance to insulin does not differentiate between insulin secreted naturally by the pancreas or insulin administered by injection.
In many cases this condition can exist undetected for years...
often prediabetics are resistant to insulin for over a decade before the problem becomes severe.
When your diet is full of empty calories and quickly absorbed sugars and carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, your cells slowly become resistant to the effects of insulin and more and more is needed to carry out the same job of keeping your blood sugar even.
Your pancreas becomes overloaded with work after secreting more insulin than your body can cope with, it then starts to fail and your blood sugars commence to rise.
Why Insulin Resistance is Dangerous? Now your body has trouble processing the glucose entering your body through food and beverages.
You may have a normal amount of insulin available in your bloodstream, but it doesn't properly transport glucose into your muscle cells to be converted into and stored as glycogen (which can be used for energy later).
This means less energy, more sugar dumped into your circulation, and added strain on your liver and kidneys.
How Insulin Resistance Works: Whereas Type 1 diabetes is a disease of the pancreas, insulin resistance is an issue in the cells that respond to insulin.
Insulin receptors (in the membranes of responsive cells), are composed of many sub-units.
A problem (mutation or malfunction), of any of these subunits can impair the receptor's ability to recognize insulin.
In addition, there can also be a breakdown in communication between the receptors in the cell membrane and inside the cell itself...
where the 'machinery' for processing the glucose is found.
The insulin may be delivered, but the cell forgets how to use it.
Failure at any point on the cellular chain can result in insulin resistance.
Risk Factors for Insulin Resistance: There are several factors which can increase the likelihood or severity of resistance to insulin...
- both obesity and hypertension can worsen this condition and can cause Type diabetes in a person already at risk
- there is also believed to be a hereditary predisposition
- Type 2 diabetics often come from families where there are multiple incidences of this condition
- steroid use
- some medications
- severe infection or illness
- stress and
- pregnancy...
women who suffer gestational diabetes often develop Type 2 diabetes later in life.
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