Synonyms in a broader sense
diabetes mellitus, diabetes mellitus, adult-onset diabetes, adult-onset diabetes
Introduction
The outdated term for diabetes type 2 is adult-onset diabetes. This is due to the fact that adults in particular are confronted with this diagnosis of diabetes mellitus for the first time. In recent years, however, it has become more and more common for younger people to develop the disease, which is mainly due to the fact that more and more children and adolescents in our Western world are suffering from obesity at an early age.
Type 2 diabetes is based on a relative lack of insulin. This means that the body still produces insulin, but it is no longer able to cover its needs. This can either be because the need is increased for some reason or because the target structures, in this case the membranes of the cells to which the insulin is to “dock”, no longer show sufficient sensitivity to the hormone. This is known as insulin resistance.
Epidemiology
About 8.9% of the population is estimated to be affected by diabetes mellitus. In addition, however, there is probably a very high number of unreported cases, as it is assumed that among adults almost half of diabetics remain undetected. More than 90% of diabetics have diabetes type 2, which means that in Germany about 6 to 7 million people suffer from this disease. Only 10% suffer from type 1 diabetes, and the numbers are rising rapidly, with the number of new cases of diabetes increasing by 3 to 5% every year, the majority of which are due to type 2 diabetes.
Causes
The main cause of diabetes mellitus type 2 is overweight. In healthy people, there is a lot of glucose (sugar) in the blood after food intake. As a result, the cell membranes are increasingly equipped with transporters for glucose and this is absorbed into the body cells.
This transport is insulin-dependent. However, if the body is permanently flooded with too much sugar due to excessive food intake, the number of transporters is reduced and the insulin, which is still released in the same amount or even more, loses its effectiveness. In addition, diabetes type 2 also has a genetic component; it is assumed that several genes are responsible for this.
If one parent has type 2 diabetes, there is a 50% probability that the child will also get it. If a child is diagnosed with the disease, there is even a 90% probability that his or her identical twin will also be affected. Other hormonal imbalances can also lead to diabetes, although much less frequently. These include stress hormones such as catecholamines (e.g. adrenaline), which stimulate the liver to produce more glucose.
