Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset or noninsulindependent diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes. People can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood. This form of diabetes usually begins with insulin resistance, a condition in which fat, muscle, and liver cells do not use insulin properly. At first, the pancreas keeps up with the added demand by producing more insulin. In time, however, it loses the ability to secrete enough insulin in response to meals. People who are overweight and inactive are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Treatment includes taking diabetes medicines, making wise food choices, exercising regularly, controlling blood pressure and cholesterol, and taking aspirin daily—for some.

What is Type 2 Diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes is a common metabolic condition that develops when the body fails to produce enough insulin or when insulin fails to work properly, which is referred to as insulin resistance. Insulin is the hormone that stimulates cells to uptake glucose from the blood to use for energy.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Pathophysiology

Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms

Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis

Type 2 Diabetes Screening and Prevention

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment

Living With Type 2 Diabetes

Vitamin D and Type 2 Diabetes

Is a Plant-Based Diet Good for Type 2 Diabetes?

Are Low Carbohydrate Diets Good for Type 2 Diabetes?

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin Resistance Pathophysiology

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Causes of Insulin Resistance

Insulin Resistance Treatment

Insulin Resistance Diagnosis

Insulin Resistance Symptoms

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The Risks of Prediabetes

What is Diabetes?

Fibromyalgia and Diabetes

Diabetes in Men versus Women

Insulin Medication

Latest Type 2 Diabetes News and Research

Green Mediterranean diet reduces non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, show randomized trials

A green Mediterranean (MED) diet reduces intrahepatic fat more than other healthy diets and cuts non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in half, according to a long-term clinical intervention trial led by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers and a team of international colleagues.

18 Jan 2021

Study offers new insight into the global obesity epidemic

Variation in consumption of market-acquired foods outside of the traditional diet -- but not in total calories burned daily -- is reliably related to indigenous Amazonian children's body fat, according to a Baylor University study that offers insight into the global obesity epidemic.

17 Jan 2021

New review supports stricter control of HbA1C levels among children with type 1 diabetes

Diabetes is characterized by elevated levels of sugar or glucose (hyperglycemia) in the blood. This occurs due to the lack of the hormone insulin in type 1 diabetes, and to reduced insulin levels in combination with insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.

15 Jan 2021

Study to examine if changing mealtimes could reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes

An innovative new study is set to examine if changing our mealtimes to earlier or later in the day could reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

15 Jan 2021

Metformin drug decreases mortality rate in COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes

Use of the diabetes drug metformin -- before a diagnosis of COVID-19 -- is associated with a threefold decrease in mortality in COVID-19 patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a racially diverse study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

15 Jan 2021

Scientists discover genetic variations that have a drastic impact on small molecules

The human organism requires a variety of small molecules, such as sugars or fats, in order to function properly.

14 Jan 2021

Drug found to be safe and effective for treating patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes

A new study confirms that treatment with Bimagrumab, an antibody that blocks activin type II receptors and stimulates skeletal muscle growth, is safe and effective for treating excess adiposity and metabolic disturbances of adult patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

13 Jan 2021

Study could help develop new oral drugs for treating muscular dystrophy, heart failure

Cell-derived exosomes are effective in treating disease when mixed with the dominant protein in breast milk and given orally, a new Smidt Heart Institute study of laboratory mice shows.

12 Jan 2021

Study uncovers strong links between a person's diet, gut microbes and health

Diets rich in certain plant-based foods are linked with the presence of gut microbes that are associated with a lower risk of developing conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to recent results from a large-scale international study that included researchers from King's College London, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Trento, Italy, and health science start-up company ZOE.

11 Jan 2021

New type of flour improved the glycemic response of people eating white bread

Researchers from the Quadram Institute and King's College London have shown that replacing wheat flour with a new ingredient derived from chickpeas improved the glycemic response of people eating white bread.

11 Jan 2021

Researchers develop new statistical method that generates significant genetic insights

Pleiotropy analysis, which provides insight on how individual genes result in multiple characteristics, has become increasingly valuable as medicine continues to lean into mining genetics to inform disease treatments. Privacy stipulations, though, make it difficult to perform comprehensive pleiotropy analysis because individual patient data often can't be easily and regularly shared between sites.

8 Jan 2021

IU research findings could prevent common complication of blood stem cell transplantation in leukemia

Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center published promising findings today in the New England Journal of Medicine on preventing a common complication to lifesaving blood stem cell transplantation in leukemia.

7 Jan 2021

Migration from high sunlight to low sunlight regions is linked to vitamin D deficiency

A new study in the Oxford Economic Papers finds that migration flows the last 500 years from high sunlight regions to low sunlight regions influence contemporary health outcomes in destination countries.

7 Jan 2021

Sweetened beverage sales bounced back following the repeal of Cook County tax

Following the repeal of the short-lived Cook County, Illinois Sweetened Beverage Tax, sales of sweetened beverages went right back to where they were before the tax went into place, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago. The study is published in JAMA Network Open.

4 Jan 2021

Routine eye imaging may provide clues to cognitive disorders in older people with type 1 diabetes

As they age, people with diabetes are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders than are people without diabetes.

4 Jan 2021

Few organisms in the gut microbiome found to play a key role in type 2 diabetes

Researchers at Oregon State University have found that a few organisms in the gut microbiome play a key role in type 2 diabetes, opening the door to possible probiotic treatments for a serious metabolic disease affecting roughly one in 10 Americans.

4 Jan 2021

Six clearly distinguishable subtypes of prediabetes identified

All prediabetes is not the same: in people in the preliminary stages of type 2 diabetes, there are six clearly distinguishable subtypes, which differ in the development of the disease, diabetes risk, and the development of secondary diseases.

4 Jan 2021

People with detectable brown fat less likely to suffer cardiac and metabolic conditions

Brown fat is that magical tissue that you would want more of. Unlike white fat, which stores calories, brown fat burns energy and scientists hope it may hold the key to new obesity treatments.

4 Jan 2021

Popular glucose-lowering drug may cause rare diabetes complication in COVID-19 patients

Diabetes is a known risk factor for morbidity and mortality related to COVID-19. In diabetes patients, rare but severe complications, like the potentially lethal condition diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), can arise when illness or certain conditions prevent cells from receiving enough glucose to fuel their functioning.

28 Dec 2020

Higher BMI linked to increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA, revealed that the spike-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies in obese people are negatively associated with body mass index (BMI) and serum levels of proinflammatory and metabolic markers of pulmonary inflammation.

24 Dec 2020