What is type 2 diabetes?
Affecting up to 35.4 million people in the United States, type 2 diabetes results from something called insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas that’s essential for ferrying glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream to cells throughout the body, where it’s used for energy.
In type 2 diabetes, however, the body requires more and more insulin just to get glucose out of the blood. The pancreas can’t keep up with the rising demand. The result is high blood sugar, the overlapping feature of all diabetes types. Over time, that can lead to a variety of complications, including nerve damage and kidney disease.
