Nutrition and Weight Loss for Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is a condition involving high blood glucose, or sugar. Weight can play a key role in the disease, as it can lead to both weight loss and weight gain.

According to the World Health Organization, 90 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. Some research indicates that the longer someone has a high body mass index, or BMI (a common measure of being overweight or obese), the greater their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Fat tissues are active, releasing and responding to hormones that increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, which can include diabetes. But losing even 10 to 15 pounds can make a big difference in improving your health and blood sugar levels.

Your weight can affect diabetes, but diabetes can also affect your weight. This may depend on the type of diabetes that you have — type 1 or type 2.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease that causes high blood sugar, or glucose. With diabetes, the body either doesn’t make enough of a hormone called insulin or can’t effectively use the insulin it does make. Insulin controls the levels of glucose in the blood after you eat a meal.

People with type 1 diabetes may lose weight unintentionally since they can’t use the sugar they eat for energy. In this case, the pancreas doesn’t make insulin, and sugar is removed from the body during urination.

Being overweight or obese increases a person’s risk for developing type 2 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes have a condition called insulin resistance. This means that the pancreas can typically still make insulin, but the body can’t use it properly. The pancreas tries to compensate by making more insulin, but it eventually wears out.