Type-2 Diabetes and Obesity

Type-2 diabetes is a serious medical condition in which the body is unable to properly process sugar, or glucose from food. As a result, blood sugar levels increase resulting in damage to nerves and organs.

The number of people diagnosed with type-2 diabetes has increased dramatically in recent years. Aging baby boomers and high rates of obesity are among the main causes for the approximately 8% annual increase in people being diagnosed with diabetes.

Factors that increase your risk for type-2 diabetes include:

Age
Weight
Inactivity
A diet high in sugar and fat
Family history of the disease

Causes of Diabetes

Type-2 diabetes develops when sugar in the blood is not properly used by the cells, allowing it to build-up in the bloodstream.

Blood sugar, or glucose, serves an important role in the body. When absorbed by the body’s cells, it is converted into fuel and used for energy. A hormone produced by the pancreas, insulin, helps the cells to absorb glucose to encourage its conversion into fuel.

In a healthy individual, insulin serves as a key to a lock, allowing glucose to pass into the cell. In an individual with type-2 diabetes, the cells become resistant to insulin. This prohibits glucose from effectively entering the cell. Left in the bloodstream, the increasing levels of glucose lead to high blood sugar.

Insulin produced by pancreas opens channels in cells to allow entry of glucose

Insulin is unable to open channels into cells resulting in increasing levels of blood glucose

The cells’ increasing resistance to insulin develops gradually. The onset of this issue is known as pre-diabetes, a reversible stage of the disease that will generally lead to type-2 diabetes within 10 years.

Symptoms of Type-2 Diabetes

Often, type-2 diabetes will develop without immediately presenting symptoms. As the condition grows more severe, symptoms will often include:

Fatigue
Excessive thirst
Frequent urination
Hunger, even after just eating
Infections that are slow to heal
Blurred vision
Erectile dysfunction

Treatment for Type-2 Diabetes

The goal of treatment for type-2 diabetes is to manage blood sugar levels to prevent health complications from the disease. This is accomplished through a collection of lifestyle changes and medications. This often includes eating a diet low in sugar and fat, exercising regularly and paying attention to your blood sugar levels.

Medications and insulin injections are sometimes prescribed to help manage blood sugar levels.

The most effective treatment for uncontrolled type-2 diabetes is weight loss. Following weight loss surgery, many people experience rapid improvement in their health, including the reversal and resolution of type-2 diabetes.

Suggested Reading

Clayton: Health Improvement

I had type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and I had been seeing different things and reading different articles that said the bariatric surgery would help with the type 2 diabetes. I was on 14 medications a day and insulin every night, and I had the surgery done. Four weeks after my surgery all my blood sugar level was coming under control, my cholesterol dropped significantly, my triglycerides were like 560 and they went down. I just had blood work the other day from my cardiologist and my blood work showed that my triglycerides were only 126 now.

For Diabetes, Surgery a Better Option than Standard Treatment

Two recent studies have found results that are promising to overweight patients that are also suffering from type-2 diabetes.

Health Risks Associated with Obesity

Weight loss surgery, such as Lap-Band surgery is a step to reduce the health risks associated with obesity.