How Does Type 2 Diabetes Work?
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Risk Factors
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Type 2 diabetes is most likely to develop in a person who has diabetes in her family, or who is a member of certain ethnic groups. In particular, individuals of Asian, African, Hispanic, Native American, or Pacific Islander descent are more susceptible to type 2 diabetes than other groups. People who are obese, sedentary, and have high cholesterol are all at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Energy
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Many type 2 diabetes symptoms are the result of the diabetic's inability to use the energy in the food consumed. The sugar in the diabetic's body is meant to be used as energy to fuel his day to day activities. Without insulin working to provide that energy to the cells, the liver has to convert stored energy, or body fat, into glucose to be used as energy. This process can result in rapid weight loss in an undiagnosed diabetic. In addition, the inability to use the sugar in their blood will cause a type 2 diabetic to feel hungry and tired.
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High Blood Sugar
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Impaired insulin function results in high levels of sugar in the blood. In order to remove the unused sugar from the blood, the kidneys filter it out and expel it from the diabetic's body in urine. Due to the high levels of blood sugar, the kidneys need to pull enough fluid from the rest of the body in order to create enough urine to carry the sugar. This leads to frequent urination, dehydration, and constant thirst.
Insulin Resistance
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Insulin resistance is a progressive condition that leads to type 2 diabetes. Initially, cells begin to stop responding to insulin correctly, and start requiring more insulin to bring sugar into the cells for energy. The pancreas produces more insulin in response to this need, until the levels of insulin needed exceed the capacity of the pancreas.
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