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Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Controlling Your Diabetes

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Type 2 diabetes, once known as adult-onset or noninsulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition that affects the way your body metabolizes sugar (glucose), your body's main source of fuel.

With type 2 diabetes, your body either resists the effects of insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells — or doesn't produce enough insulin to maintain a normal glucose level. Untreated, type 2 diabetes can be life-threatening.

More common in adults, type 2 diabetes increasingly affects children as childhood obesity increases. There's no cure for type 2 diabetes, but you can manage the condition by eating well, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight. If diet and exercise don't control your blood sugar, you may need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.

Symptoms
References
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  9. What people with diabetes need to know about osteoporosis. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bone/Osteoporosis/Conditions_Behaviors/diabetes.asp. Sept. 23, 2011.
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  14. Before pregnancy. American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/pregnant-women/before-pregnancy.html. Accessed Sept. 30, 2012.
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  17. Schauer PR, et al. Bariatric surgery vs. intense medical therapy in obese patients with diabetes. New England Journal of Medicine. 2012;366:1567.
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  19. A1C. American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/a1c/?keymatch=a1c. Accessed Oct. 1, 2012.
DS00585 Jan. 25, 2013

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