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30 / Health Issues Caused by Obesity
When a person is insulin resistant,
his or her cells resist the “jimmying” (or
unlocking) effect of insulin. Glucose
can’t get in and remains outside the
cells, so the pancreas thinks it needs to
make more and more insulin to over-
power these cells and “force” them
open. But no matter how much
insulin the pancreas generates,
insulin-resistant cells can neither
yield to its battering ram nor absorb
the blood sugar waiting behind it. Cells
remain impenetrable, and glucose stays
in the blood, elevating blood-sugar levels.
Since glucose can’t get into the cells, the cells run out of energy.
Furthermore, the pancreas soon wears out from
chronic
overproduction
and eventually loses its ability to produce enough insulin. At that point, glu-
cose remains in the blood, locked out of cells unused, and blood-sugar levels
get higher and higher. That’s not good. According to the National Diabetes
Information Clearinghouse (NDIC), a high blood-sugar level is a major cause
of heart disease, kidney disease,
stroke
, blindness, and early death.
Some cases of type 2 diabetes are preventable. Why? This type of diabetes
is almost always associated with excess weight. In fact, obesity influences the
prevalence of type 2 diabetes more often than any other factor. According to
the
Harvard Gazette
, the Harvard University newspaper, 85 percent of those
with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. Anyone with a BMI over
twenty-five is at risk of developing this disease.
How does surplus weight trigger the disease’s onset? No one knows for
sure, but some theories exist. One idea is that being overweight or obese
causes cells to change, making them insulin resistant. (We already know that
as we gain weight, fat cells change by expanding. Could other cells also
change with regard to insulin response?)