When you digest food, your body breaks down much of the food into sugar (glucose). Your blood carries the sugar to the cells of your body for energy. The pancreas gland makes insulin, which helps move the sugar from the bloodstream into the cells.

Type 2 diabetes is a disorder that happens when your body does not make enough insulin or is unable to use insulin properly. The inability to use your insulin is called insulin resistance. This problem with insulin causes the level of sugar in your blood to become abnormally high.

When your body does not have enough insulin or cannot use insulin properly, sugar cannot get into your cells. Sugar builds up in your blood. Too much sugar in your blood can cause many problems. These problems can be life-threatening if they are not treated. However, proper treatment can control your blood-sugar level.

Type 2 diabetes occurs mostly in adults over age 40, especially overweight adults. Overweight children and adolescents can also have this type of diabetes. More people, including children and adolescents, are becoming diabetic as more people become overweight.

Many millions of people in the US are diabetic. Most of them have type 2 diabetes. The cause of type 2 diabetes is not known, although age, weight, lack of exercise, and a high-calorie diet appear to be important factors. As people become older or overweight, they are more likely to have diabetes. Their cells become unable to use the insulin made by the pancreas. Women who have given birth to large babies (for example, babies weighing 9 pounds or more), or who have had diabetes of pregnancy (gestational diabetes), have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Also, if your parents have had type 2 diabetes, your chance of developing type 2 diabetes is much higher.