Type 2 Diabetes

After talking about diabetes yesterday, I realized that many people may not truly understand what type 2 diabetes is. So I decided today to put this in terms that you can understand what's happening in the body of a type 2 diabetic.

Most type 2 diabetics have been diabetic for 4-5 years at least prior to the time they are diagnosed. This is because you don't feel particularly bad, but damage is definitely being done this during this time. During this period, if we actually measured the output of insulin from the pancreas, what we would find is that the individual is actually putting out higher amounts of insulin than a normal individual puts out.

What happens is this. Think of the cell as a room and the hall way outside is the blood. For glucose which is carried in the blood to get into the cell (where it feeds the cell), insulin is required to open the door to the room. If the insulin - let's think of it as the key to the door - if it doesn't open the door because it doesn't fit quite right into the key hole, glucose cannot get into the cell and stays in the blood stream. Hence, the person ends up with elevated blood glucose or blood sugar levels.

The body in it's efforts to answer the cry of the cells for glucose increases insulin production. Now in the early stages, occasionally the insulin will unlock the door and glucose gets in but perhaps not as much as the cell needs.

This is a simplistic way to look at what is happening on the cellular level in the body. The polyphenols mentioned yesterday assist the insulin in fitting properly into the key hole and opening the door for the glucose.