Risk factors – Factors that may increase your risk of type 2 diabetes include:
Weight. Being overweight or obese is a main risk. Fat distribution. Storing fat mainly in your abdomen — rather than your hips and thighs — indicates a greater risk. Your risk of type 2 diabetes rises if you’re a man with a waist circumference above 40 inches (101.6 centimeters) or a woman with a measurement above 35 inches (88.9 centimeters). Inactivity. The less active you are, the greater your risk. Physical activity helps control your weight, uses up glucose as energy and makes your cells more sensitive to insulin. Family history. The risk of type 2 diabetes increases if your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes. Race and ethnicity. Although it’s unclear why, people of certain races and ethnicities — including Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian people, and Pacific Islanders — are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than white people are. Blood lipid levels. An increased risk is associated with low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol — the “good” cholesterol — and high levels of triglycerides. Age. The risk of type 2 diabetes increases as you get older, especially after age 35. Prediabetes. Prediabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Left untreated, prediabetes often progresses to type 2 diabetes. Pregnancy-related risks. Your risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases if you developed gestational diabetes when you were pregnant or if you gave birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds (4 kilograms). Polycystic ovary syndrome. Having polycystic ovary syndrome — a common condition characterized by irregular menstrual periods, excess hair growth and obesity — increases the risk of diabetes Areas of darkened skin, usually in the armpits and neck. This condition often indicates insulin resistance.
How do you gain type 2 diabetes?
It’s caused by problems with a chemical in the body (hormone) called insulin. It’s often linked to being overweight or inactive, or having a family history of type 2 diabetes.
Can you get type 2 diabetes if you are healthy?
Diabetes can strike—hard—even when weight is normal – Harvard Health ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed.
No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. We tend to think of type 2 diabetes as a disease that afflicts people who are overweight. But it can also appear in people with perfectly healthy weights—and be more deadly in them.
A study published today in the indicates that normal-weight people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have double the risk of dying from heart disease and other causes than overweight people with diabetes. Such apparent “protection” by excess weight has been called the obesity paradox.
Is it hard to get type 2 diabetes?
– Anyone can develop type 2 diabetes, but certain factors can increase a person’s risk. These risk factors include :
being 45 years of age or olderliving a sedentary lifestylehaving overweight or obesityeating an unbalanced diethaving a family history of diabeteshaving polycystic ovary syndromehaving a medical history of gestational diabetes, heart disease, or strokehaving prediabetes
How do you develop diabetes?
The role of glucose – Glucose — a sugar — is a source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues.
Glucose comes from two major sources: food and the liver. Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it enters cells with the help of insulin. The liver stores and makes glucose. When glucose levels are low, such as when you haven’t eaten in a while, the liver breaks down stored glycogen into glucose. This keeps your glucose level within a typical range.
The exact cause of most types of diabetes is unknown. In all cases, sugar builds up in the bloodstream. This is because the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes may be caused by a combination of genetic or environmental factors. It is unclear what those factors may be.
Is type 2 diabetes lifelong?
About type 2 diabetes Diabetes is usually a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood glucose (sugar) level to become too high.
Can a completely healthy person get diabetes?
For our HMO patients, please make sure we are your Primary Care Physician before booking. 
We often assume that just because a person is skinny, they’re in perfect health. However, even healthy people can develop insulin resistance, a condition that leads to high blood sugar or diabetes. Type 2 diabetes may be more common in people who are overweight or obese, but Dr.
Syed Farhat Zaidi and Dr. Imran Baig at Integrative Primary Care in Houston and Katy, Texas, understand it can strike those who seem perfectly healthy. And, in those cases, it can have even more serious complications, including doubling your chances of dying from diabetes complications, like heart disease.
To reduce your chances of developing diabetes, we can help you identify your personal risks, even if you’re a really healthy person.
How quickly can type 2 diabetes develop?
Who’s at risk for prediabetes? – You’re at risk for developing prediabetes if you:
Are overweight Are 45 years or older Have a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes Are physically active less than 3 times a week Have ever had gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy) or given birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds Are African-American, Hispanic/Latino American, American Indian, or Alaska Native (some Pacific Islanders and Asian-Americans are also at higher risk)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with prediabetes often develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years if they do not get treatment.
Is type 2 diabetes only caused by sugar?
Does sugar cause diabetes? – There are two main types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We know that sugar does not cause type 1 diabetes, nor is it caused by anything else in your lifestyle. In type 1 diabetes, the insulin producing cells in your pancreas are destroyed by your immune system.
- With type 2 diabetes, the answer is a little more complex.
- Though we know sugar doesn’t directly cause type 2 diabetes, you are more likely to get it if you are overweight.
- You gain weight when you take in more calories than your body needs, and sugary foods and drinks contain a lot of calories.
- So you can see if too much sugar is making you put on weight, then you are increasing your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
But type 2 diabetes is complex, and sugar is unlikely to be the only reason the condition develops. We also know that sugar sweetened drinks, like canned soft drinks, are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and this is not necessarily linked to their effect on body weight.