subject: Investigating What's Responsible For Type 2 Diabetes [print this page] If you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you are probably wondering," how in the world did I get this disease"? As you might imagine, doctors have learned quite a bit about this disease. For example, they know that type 2 diabetes usually runs in families. Usually a family member can find a relative that has the disease also. Because of this, doctors consider type 2 diabetes to be more of a genetic disease than type 1 diabetes. Case and point: In studies of identical twins, when one twin develops type 2 diabetes, the probability that the second twin develops diabetes is almost 100 percent.
Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, those with type 2 have plenty of insulin in their bodies. The problem is that their bodies respond to insulin in abnormal ways. Individuals with type 2 diabetes are what's referred to as insulin-resistant, meaning that their bodies resist the normal, healthy functioning of insulin. This resistance combined with not having enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance, causes type 2 diabetes.
Believe it or not, future type 2 diabetics are usually showing signs of insulin resistance before obesity or lack of exercise is present. This is known because usually the amount of insulin in their blood is elevated compared to normal levels. In addition, a dose of insulin doesn't reduce the blood glucose in these insulin resistant people nearly as much as it does in people without insulin resistance.
When the body needs to make extra insulin just to keep it's blood glucose normal, there's a problem. This simply means that you have impaired glucose tolerance. Your body goes through impaired glucose tolerance before you actually have diabetes, because your blood glucose is still lower than the levels needed for a diagnosis of diabetes. When you have impaired glucose tolerance and you add other components such as a sedentary lifestyle, weight gain, and aging your pancreas can't handle the insulin demands, resulting in type 2 diabetes.
Another factor that comes into focus when physicians make a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is the release of sugar from the glycogen stored in your liver, known as your hepatic glucose output. Individuals with type 2 diabetes have high glucose levels in the morning after having fasted all night. It would seem that your glucose would be low in the morning if you haven't eaten any sugar. The truth is, your liver is a storage tank for a lot of glucose, and it can make even more from other substances in the body. As your insulin resistance increases, your liver begins to let go of glucose inappropriately, and your fasting blood glucose level increases.
