Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:51

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, comprising 80% of people who suffer from diabetes. With obesity on the increase it is predicted that these figures will only increase. When you have Type 2 diabetes, usually your pancreas is producing some insulin but that insulin does not work properly.

Diabetes occurs when there is too much Glucose (sugar) in the blood. Most of the food we eat is changed into glucose and passed into the bloodstream. From there it travels to other parts of the body to give us energy. To get this energy a hormone called insulin helps glucose out of the bloodstream and into the body’s cells. Insulin is produced in your body by an organ called the pancreas.

Diabetes causes glucose to build up in your bloodstream because it cannot enter the bodies cells. It means cells don’t get the energy they need.

There are two types of diabetes. In Type 1 Diabetes, the pancreas stops producing insulin. People who get diabetes at a very young age usually have Type 1 diabetes and will need injections of insulin.

The more common form of diabetes is Type 2 Diabetes. Typically it develops later in life, especially people over 40 years of age who are overweight and/or have a family history of diabetes. However people under 40 can get the disease as well. Increasingly teenagers and children are developing Type “2 diabetes as a result of increasing levels of obesity in young people. When you have Type 2 diabetes, usually your pancreas is producing some insulin but that insulin does not work properly.