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What Is Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus?

Type 2 diabetes mellitus affects over 12 million people in the Unites States. Although it usually occurs in adults in their 40s or older, recent reports show that it's becoming more and more common in younger adults and even children.

In 1986, type 2 diabetes caused the deaths of 144,000 people in the United States alone. Diabetic patients are more likely to require kidney dialysis due to kidney failure, and amputations as a result of certain infections.

Approximately 80% of all diabetics die of heart disease, which strikes diabetics at a younger age than the rest of the population. Diabetic patients often require medication and must spend time checking their sugar levels and worrying about whether or not their blood sugar is under control.

Fortunately, a healthy diet containing nutritious, whole foods can go a long way towards helping diabetic patients manage their condition.

Symptoms

People in the early stages of type 2 diabetes may have mild or no symptoms. As the disease progresses and the damage continues, more symptoms may appear.

Some early symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:

Excessive thirst

Excessive urination

Excessive hunger or overeating

Fatigue or weakness

Weight loss despite normal or excessive eating

Some of the later symptoms or consequences of type 2 diabetes include:

Kidney failure

Sores or wounds that heal very slowly

Numbness in the feet or ankles

Infections in the feet or legs, especially gangrene

Heart attack

Atherosclerosis or heart disease

The Disease Process

What is going on in the body to produce both high blood sugar and high insulin levels? There are several things that may cause the problem of type 2 diabetes, and they may start sooner than we think.

Normally, certain cells in the pancreas produce a substance called insulin. The main job of this substance is to bind to insulin receptors, which are made just for insulin. Once the insulin binds to these receptors, cells are able to start absorbing sugar, also known as glucose, from the bloodstream.

The pancreas typically produces insulin at certain times, like after we eat, which is when the many sugar molecules from food have been absorbed and are in the blood. Insulin allows cells to get the glucose that they need for energy and also helps keep the blood sugar levels from getting too high after a meal.

In type 2 diabetes patients, however, something goes wrong. For some, the insulin that the pancreas produces is defective and cannot bind to the receptors properly. This causes the blood sugar levels to rise very high since much of the sugar cannot get out of the bloodstream.

For others, the insulin is normal, but the cells of the body are producing insulin receptors that are defective. Since the insulin cannot bind to these receptors, they cannot absorb glucose as well, and the blood sugar levels rise. The high blood sugar levels then trigger the pancreas to produce even more insulin in an attempt to fix the situation.

Unfortunately, this does little good and results in both high blood sugar and high insulin levels. This situation is referred to as insulin resistance, as the cells are resistant to the normal effects of insulin.

When cells of the body are unable to absorb sugar, they don’t get the energy they need for normal function, so the person ends up feeling weak and tired, and also very hungry as the cells call out for more energy. High blood sugar levels put an extra burden on the kidneys, which leads to sugar in the urine and a need to urinate much more than usual. Since there is extra urine being produced, the body feels extra thirsty in an effort to replace all of that lost fluid.

In addition to the above mentioned problems, type 2 diabetes patients have something else to deal with. Studies show that type 2 diabetes patients have higher levels of free radicals in their bodies than non-diabetics. F ree radicals are substances produced in the body. Normally, they are used by the immune system to attack and kill invading germs. When there are too many of them, however, they can cause a lot of damage to normal cells and organs.

Free radicals are believed to play a major role in the formation and progression of atherosclerosis, and may be responsible for the kidney damage seen in diabetes. They can also damage blood vessels and nerve cells, leading to poor circulation, numbness, and an increased susceptibility to certain infections.

Researchers are not sure if these excess free radicals are caused solely by high blood sugar levels, as many patients with good blood sugar control also have high levels in their bloodstream. It's believed that high insulin levels may also cause the production of these dangerous free radicals. This means that it may be important to not only keep blood sugar levels under control, but also to prevent blood insulin levels from getting too high. Fortunately, both of these can be achieved through a healthy diet.