Obesity and the Increased Risk for Diabetes

By Richard Lobbenberg

People with type 2 diabetes tend to be overweight or obese, and while there is general agreement about a link between the two, the scientific understanding is still not yet clear. It seems that obesity, especially with fat accumulation in your abdomen, promotes insulin resistance which then causes your pancreas to try and secrete more insulin. If your pancreas can't keep up to the increased demand, then your cells can't process glucose (sugar), for which the insulin is necessary. When this happens, you have developed type 2 diabetes. The other way type 2 develops is when your pancreas cannot produce enough insulin regardless of resistance. Type 1 diabetes occurs when your pancreas simply doesn't produce any insulin at all.

So what happens in obese people and insulin resistance? It has been shown that a high fat diet causes abnormal glucose production in your liver. In healthier people, glucose production in the liver only occurs when your blood sugar levels get too low. This behaviour of your liver with obesity, increasing blood glucose levels, is an important step towards developing insulin resistance. This has to do with a process by which the endoplasmic reticulum in your cells, which process fats and proteins, become 'stressed'. The endoplasmic reticulum then send out signals to tell your body to ignore insulin until the fat processing has finished.

Other studies show that a diet high in sugar can be a precursor to developing diabetes as well, perhaps explaining why some people who are not overweight but maintain poor diet habits can develop insulin resistance.

Further scientific evidence points to fat cells producing a hormone known as resistin. This hormone supposedly prevents cells from using insulin properly, affecting your blood glucose levels, your appetite, and your fat storage.

The bottom line is that your pancreas secretes insulin as you eat, and your cells, using insulin, permit the transport of sugar (glucose) inside, to be converted into energy. Diabetes prevents your cells from using the insulin, causing your blood sugar levels to be higher than normal, and your cells to lack the necessary ingredients to produce energy, which of course is essential for basic life functions. How obesity is connected to helping create this situation may not be perfectly clear, but you can certainly be sure that exercise and a healthy diet will not only combat obesity, but will also help you manage diabetes.

Yoga is a great exercise, and is good for all levels of people - it's just a matter of finding the right teacher for you. Acupuncture can help to regulate your blood sugar and energy levels, and can even help you to lose weight.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

How Obesity Affects Diabetes

By Joan Loganeski 

According to recent research studies, the obesity epidemic in America has produced an alarming spike in the number of Diabetes II cases. This is seriously bad news because diabetes is no joke. Diabetes can kill through kidney failure and heart attacks. Moreover, quality of life decreases dramatically with severe diabetes since this condition brings blindness through cataracts and amputations. How does obesity impact diabetes? How is insulin production impacted by obesity? How does the body's intake of insulin impacted by obesity? Find out below and get ready to make the lifestyle changes you need to lose weight and avoid the

hard impact of diabetes II.

Excess fat means excess stored energy

When you eat something, your body breaks it down into its components. One key component is energy. Your body can do one of two things to the energy you consume-it can burn it to support your body's operations, or it can store it. Believe it or not, our bodies burn quite a bit of calories every day. Every time you breathe, you burn calories. In fact, every time your body functions work, it needs to burn energy to make the functions happen. The problem is when we eat more energy than we consume, our body can only store the energy. Humans, like other animals, store energy in the form of fat. If you have too much stored calories in your body, you become obese. Simply put, obesity is bad news. Why? It can trigger all sorts of health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, and Type 2 Diabetes. Talk about bad news. Obesity triggers diabetes by increasing the amount of fat in the gut.

High fat in the gut impacts cell sensitivity to insulin

As the body stores more and more fat, fat is distributed throughout the body. However, most of it will be stored in the gut and waistline. High fat concentrations in the blood makes cells less sensitive to insulin. Insulin is a powerful chemical signal released by the pancreas which tells the body's cells to let in sugar and burn it. Cells need to burn sugar for energy. When there is too much fat in the gut, the body's cells become less sensitive to the insulin signal. As a result, the cells don't let in sugar to burn it. Instead, sugar builds up in the diabetic's bloodstream. Too much sugar in the bloodstream causes damage to blood vessels and organs. Think of shattered glass coursing through your body-that's how much of a risk elevated blood sugar levels can pose to your health.

Heavy fat in abdomen reduces insulin output

It's bad enough that heavy fat concentration impacts the body's processing of insulin, obesity also works to reduce the body's insulin output. As I have mentioned above, the human body produces insulin to signal cells to let in sugar and burn it as an energy source. Obesity also impacts the organs that produce insulin-the pancreas. High fat levels affect the pancreas to produce less insulin. Paired with impaired insulin processing, the reduced level of insulin availability spells a lot of trouble to the diabetic since this will only serve to skyrocket the amount of sugar in the diabetic's blood.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/