Type 1 vs. type 2 diabetes: What’s the difference and why does it matter?

From live5news.com

One in eight Americans has diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, but experts say treatment is not one size fits all. Even when two people share similar symptoms, their diagnoses and care plans can be very different.

Two diseases, one name

Dr. Anna Bradley, an endocrinologist at Vanderbilt University, said both type 1 and type 2 diabetes affect how the body turns food into energy, resulting in blood sugar that is too high. But the reason that happens is not the same.

“In type 1 diabetes, the blood sugar is too high because the pancreas stops producing insulin, and insulin is the hormone that causes the cells of our body to take in glucose or nutrition. So, without that hormone, insulin, our bodies can’t bring sugar from the bloodstream into the cells, where it’s mobilized and used to make energy,” Bradley said.

In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas still produces insulin, but cells become resistant to its signals and stop converting sugar to energy, Bradley said. The pancreas then works in overdrive to compensate, producing excess insulin.

Bradley said that in some long-term type 2 patients, the pancreas eventually gives out, requiring insulin treatment as well.

Treatment depends on type

Because the underlying causes differ, so do the treatments.

Bradley said people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin because their bodies do not produce it. For type 2 patients, she said there are multiple medications available as a first line of defence to help cells respond better to insulin.

The CDC reports that 90 to 95% of people with diabetes have type 2.

Bradley said being overweight is a major risk factor because fat tissue is insulin resistant, and that lifestyle changes, including improved diet and increased physical activity, can, in some cases, reverse the condition.

Warning signs and early detection

Dr. Rhea Rogers, a board-certified physician, said insulin resistance can precede a diabetes diagnosis by 10 to 15 years.

During that window, standard tests such as haemoglobin A1c, may appear normal, even as fasting insulin levels are elevated — a sign the disease process is already underway, Rogers said.

Common symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes include excessive thirst, frequent urination at night and vision changes, Rogers said.

https://www.live5news.com/2026/07/09/type-1-vs-type-2-diabetes-whats-difference-why-does-it-matter/