Type 2 diabetes is a leading cause of death all around the world as a survey showed that there are about 37 million diabetics in the US and over 3 million diabetics in Nigeria. But the question arises, what is type 2 diabetes? According to the International Diabetes Federation, it is a disease in which the body is unable to use insulin the way it should.
People suffering from this type are said to have insulin resistance. This means insulin is produced in the body but it is unable to make any use of it. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in the body. It is the main anabolic hormone of the body responsible for regulating the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
Type 2 diabetes is also referred to as adult-onset diabetes since it mostly occurs in middle-aged or older adults. However, childhood obesity might become a cause of type 2 diabetes in kids and teens. In this article, we’ll systematically discuss what is Type 2 diabetes, its causes, treatment, and what you need to know to overcome this disease.
There are several causes and risk factors for type 2 diabetes. They are as follows:
Lifestyle habits such as overeating, especially when combined with obesity, certainly act as a type 2 diabetes cause. Obesity increases the resistance to the action of insulin.
Three pathological features are seen in Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus:
If a Type 2 diabetes patient has identical twins, the chances of twins acquiring the disease are dramatically increased to almost 60%. More than 25% of diabetes type 2 patients have a first-degree relative already suffering from it.
There are several genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes as well. These are:
If a person acquires any of the aforementioned risk factors, he or she should take more caution as they are relatively at a higher risk of suffering from diabetes.
The lifestyle factors have been mentioned separately because these factors can be modified in order to evade this deadly disease.
The products that are sweetened artificially or sugar-sweetened increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 26-67% depending on your health and various other factors.
If you are obese, there is a high chance that you may acquire this disease as your metabolism is not working properly.
Stress is a major factor in developing diabetes. This is the reason why people with low-income and socioeconomic stress are more prone to diabetes.
Watching TV all day long and not doing any exercise is a major lifestyle factor.
People who want to live a better and healthy life should act accordingly. Losing your weight, avoiding sweet products, and exercising daily might put you in a better state to combat diabetes.
Since diabetes is directly related to high blood glucose levels, the signs and symptoms of this disease also attribute to those of hyperglycemia. Following are the Type 2 diabetes signs and symptoms:
Acute symptoms are those occurring rapidly and do not have a long history. These are:
Chronic symptoms have a long history contributing to other diseases as well:
If you experience any of these symptoms, do have a word with your doctor and consult with him thoroughly about your case.
You can also check all possible diabetes symptoms here and the steps to take for each manifested symptom
To check if you have diabetes or not, you may need to test your blood glucose level. A single sample of blood is drawn after fasting for about 8 hours and sent for analysis. In home or clinic, a blood glucose meter can also be used to accurately assess the blood glucose level of the patient.
The following results indicate if a person has acquired diabetes or not:
With time, if you don’t consider changing your sedentary lifestyle and avoiding sweet products, there is a high chance that you may end up with the following complications:
You can also check all possible diabetes symptoms here and the steps to take for each manifested symptom
Treating type 2 diabetes is hard but if you want to live a good and healthy life, you should consider the following:
The steps you can take for prevention of diabetes are lifestyle modifications such as:
Following are the treatments of type 2 diabetes:
Managing diabetes is often a challenging task but to prevail over this disease, you need to follow the prevention and treatments very strictly.
You can also check all possible diabetes symptoms here and the steps to take for each manifested symptom
Sources and References
Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Elderly Twins by Pernille Poulsen, Kasper Pilgaard et al
American Diabetes Association
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