Type 2 diabetes is an impairment in the way the body regulates and uses sugar (glucose) as a fuel. This long-term (chronic) condition results in too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream. Eventually, high blood sugar levels can lead to disorders of the circulatory, nervous and immune systems. In this type of diabetes, there are primarily two interrelated problems at work. Your pancreas does not produce enough insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells — and cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.

This kind of diabetes used to be known as adult-onset diabetes, but both type 1 and type 2 can begin during childhood and adulthood. It is more common in older adults, but the increase in the number of children with obesity has led to more cases of diabetes type 2 in younger people. There’s no cure for this type of diabetes, but losing weight, eating well and exercising can help you manage the disease. If diet and exercise aren’t enough to manage your blood sugar, you may also need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.

Signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes often develop slowly. In fact, you can be living with it for years and not know it. When signs and symptoms are present, they may include increased thirst, frequent urination, increased hunger, unintended weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision, slow-healing sores, frequent infections, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet and areas of darkened skin, usually in the armpits and neck.

This type of diabetes is primarily the result of two interrelated problems. One, cells in muscle, fat and the liver become resistant to insulin. Because these cells don’t interact in a normal way with insulin, they don’t take in enough sugar. Second, the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to manage blood sugar levels. The exactly casue of this condition is unknown, but being overweight and inactive are key contributing factors. Chicago