What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that affects how your body turns food into energy. Type 2 diabetes develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults.

Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar (glucose) and released into your bloodstream. Your pancreas makes a hormone called insulin, which lets the blood sugar into your cells for use as energy.

If you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use the insulin it makes as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream, which over time can cause serious health problems such as heart disease, vision loss, nerve damage and kidney disease.

Risk factors for type 2 diabetes:

• Being overweight
• Having a family history
• Being physically inactive
• Being 45 and older