What is type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes is an impairment in the way the body regulates and uses sugar (glucose) as fuel. This long-term (chronic) condition results in too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream. Eventually, high blood sugar levels can lead to disorders of the circulatory, nervous, and immune systems.
In type 2 diabetes, there are primarily two interrelated problems at work. Your pancreas does not produce enough insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells — and cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.
Type 2 diabetes used to be known as adult-onset diabetes, but both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can begin during childhood and adulthood. Type 2 is more common in older adults, but the increase in the number of children with obesity has led to more cases of type 2 diabetes in younger people
For some time now researchers have looked at acupuncture as a possible treatment for diabetes.
According to Min Zhang, a Ph.D.
“Acupuncture works by improving insulin sensitivity, which determines how sensitive our body’s cells are in response to insulin — a hormone to help our body turn food into energy,” she explained to MNT.
“That means acupuncture can help to control blood sugar levels among people with prediabetes by enhancing insulin production and the efficacy of insulin utilization,” Dr. Zhang said.
Read the full article from Medical News Today here: