Animation: type 2 diabetes
View our animation of how foods containing carbohydrate are normally digested by your body into glucose. See the part insulin plays in helping glucose to enter your fat and muscle cells for energy production or storage.
Then scroll down to view what happens in people with type 2 diabetes.
Use the ‘Next’ navigation button to move through the scenes. You can also use the ‘Play again’ and ‘Back’ navigation buttons to review scenes and to move backwards.
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People with type 2 diabetes usually have a combination of problems: the pancreas does not produce enough insulin; and the body's fat and muscle cells are resistant to the insulin.
This means that insulin does not do its normal job of helping the cells to process glucose and make energy or store the energy for use later.
The cells are starved of energy as the glucose remains in the bloodstream. The glucose builds up in the bloodstream leading to what's known as a ‘high blood sugar’ or ‘high blood glucose’ level.
Last Reviewed: 21 April 2010
- 1. Mayo Clinic [website]. Type 2 diabetes: causes (updated 2009, Jun 13). Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/type-2-diabetes/DS00585/DSECTION=causes (accessed 2010, May 31)
2. Diabetes Australia - NSW [website]. Type 2 diabetes (updated 2009, Jun 23). Available at: http://www.diabetesnsw.com.au/about_diabetes/type2diabetes.asp (accessed 2010, May 31)
3. Merck Manual of Medical Information - Second Home Edition [website]. Diabetes mellitus (updated 2008, June). Available at: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec13/ch165/ch165a.html (accessed 2010, May 31)
4. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse [website]. Diabetes overview (updated 2008, Nov). Available at: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/overview/index.htm (accessed 2010, May 31)
