As we age and gain weight, blood sugar also rises. If it is constantly too high, the sugar attacks blood vessels, eyes and kidneys. But type 2 diabetes can be prevented.
“Look around, there are no normal-weight people with type 2 diabetes!” says the diabetologist and author Stephan Martin (“How insulin makes us all fat or slim”, Becker Joest Volk Verlag 2020). This form of diabetes should actually be called obesity or affluent diabetes, says Martin. The World Health Organization (WHO) has long been talking about an obesity epidemic in Europe. The triggers: industrially produced food and soft drinks and less and less exercise. With the extra pounds, the body’s cells become dull to insulin. This stage is known as insulin resistance and is a key mechanism in diabetes.