Diabetes develops when your body doesn’t produce insulin, or it can’t use insulin properly. Insulin is responsible for maintaining normal blood sugar levels, a job it does by carrying sugar to cells that need energy, and by sending excess sugar into storage in the form of fat.
All types of diabetes occur when an insulin problem leads to high blood sugar levels. However, each type has a different cause:
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes occurs when your immune system attacks your pancreas, causing damage that permanently stops the pancreas from producing insulin. This type of diabetes most often occurs in children and teens, but it can appear at any age.
Type 2 diabetes
Your pancreas still produces insulin, but you develop insulin resistance, a condition in which cells don’t respond to insulin and can’t take in enough sugar. As a result, your blood sugar stays high. Type 2 diabetes diagnosis typically occurs in adults, but it may also develop in children and teens.
Gestational diabetes
Some women develop type 2 diabetes for the first time when they become pregnant. In most cases, their blood sugar returns to normal after delivery, but their risk for developing type 2 diabetes in the future is higher.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes occurs when your blood sugar is higher than normal but not yet high enough to qualify as type 2 diabetes. At this stage, you can prevent full-blown diabetes with lifestyle changes to restore normal blood sugar levels, such as weight loss.
