Type 2 Diabetes

• Type 2 diabetes used to be called adult-onset diabetes or non insulin-dependent diabetes.
  
  
• Type 2 diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are above normal.
  
  
• High blood sugar is a major cause of early death, heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, and blindness.
  
  
• Being overweight causes cells to change, making them less effective at using sugar from the blood. This then puts stress on the cells that produce insulin (a hormone that carries sugar from the blood to cells) and makes them gradually fail.
  
  
• A weight gain of 11 to 18 pounds increases a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes to twice that of individuals who have not gained weight.
  
  
• Over 80% of people with diabetes are overweight or obese.