The symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often reasonably mild in the early stages of the condition and it is possible to suffer from type 2 diabetes for many months or years before it is diagnosed. It is however a potentially very serious condition and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes can lead to a number of serious complications including blindness, renal failure, wounds which do not heal and coronary artery disease.

Studies show that about one in five adults over the age of 65 in the United States suffers from type 2 diabetes. The condition is more common amongst, Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites and is somewhat more common in older women than in men.

The original source of type 2 diabetes is a mystery and, although it is said that there is a genetic basis to the disease this is much less evident than it is for type 1 diabetes. There is however clear evidence that environmental factors play a significant role in the development of type 2 diabetes and this is especially true in the case of obesity, insufficient exercise and an inactive lifestyle.

A large number of people think that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are the same thing and that the difference lies simply in the name, with type 1 diabetes being used when referring to the disease in children and type 2 diabetes being used for adults. This in not however so and, although there are a number of similarities, type 1 and type 2 diabetes are entirely different conditions and require quite different forms of treatment.

With type 1 diabetes the body is unable to produce insulin, which is essential for the transfer of glucose (the main source of energy within the body) from the blood into the muscles and other cells of the body. With type 2 diabetes the problem is not that the body is not able to produce insulin but that the body develops a resistance to insulin.

Currently there is no cure for type 2 diabetes which is a chronic condition and treatment is thus designed to manage the disease in order to lower the frequency of complications a number of which can be life-threatening. Treatment is also aimed at maintaining the best possible quality of life for the patient.

At first, patients with type 2 diabetes are treated with a very carefully designed program of diet and exercise (which includes a weight loss program where this is necessary) and this can prove to be very effective in controlling levels of glucose in the blood and can often increase a patient's sensitivity to insulin considerably. If this treatment is not successful, or in cases in which the disease progresses, type 2 diabetes is normally treated using a range of medication.