Role of Nutrition in the Pathophysiology, Prevention, and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes and the Spectrum of Cardiometabolic Disease

Abstract

Diabetes encompasses a group of complex, chronic, and progressive diseases that are primarily defined on the basis of hyperglycemia. Two major types of diabetes are recognized and include Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, which accounts for ∼5% of diabetes cases, is caused mainly by immune-mediated pancreatic B-cell destruction leading to absolute insulin deficiency. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for the majority of patients (90–95%), features a multifactorial pathogenesis involving defects in both insulin action and insulin secretion as a result of a complex interaction of genetic and environmental influences.