. Type II diabetes, or Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM), usually, but not always, occurs in people who are overweight. This is also called insulin resistance. It used to be called adult-onset diabetes because it normally occurred in adults over the age of forty. But as with Type I diabetes, doctors realized that Type II diabetes could appear at any time as well. Type II diabetes often strikes those who are overweight or obese. In Type II diabetes, the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or it produces enough but the body does not use the insulin properly or the body resists it. When Type II is diagnosed in young people, it is called Maturity Onset Diabetes in the Young or MODY. Type II diabetes affects mostly females, but it affects males as well. If there is a diabetic with Type II diabetes in someone’s family and they are overweight, they are at higher risk for developing Type II diabetes. This type of diabetes is usually treated with a combination of diet and exercise. Some people with Type II diabetes are also treated with insulin. Weight loss will help the body use the insulin better. While Type I diabetes tend to strike younger individuals, people who have Type II are generally more than 30 years of age. Everyone metabolizes (uses) sugar less effectively as they grow older and this can sometimes trigger an inherited tendency toward the illness. The majority of these people are also overweight. Type II diabetes tends to come on slowly and many of its victims may not even realize that they have the illness. Sex and race influence the probability of getting Type II diabetes. Until the age of 30, men have just as great a chance of getting the disease, as do women. Beyond 30, however, women make up a larger and larger proportion of the people with this disease. For people 45 and over, women are twice as likely to get the disease as men are. The incidence of diabetes also varies among racial and ethnic groups...
