Type 2 diabetes means your blood sugar stays too high over time, and doctors check this with two tests: one after you've fasted and another called HbA1c that shows how much sugar has been sticking to...

Type 2 diabetes means your blood sugar stays too high for a long time.

With type 2 diabetes, your body's cells don't respond well to insulin, so sugar stays in your blood instead of getting into cells where it's needed, leading to high blood sugar over time.

If you have type 2 diabetes, higher blood sugar might make your red blood cells die faster, which could mess up the accuracy of your A1c test — a common way doctors check long-term blood sugar control.

Even when blood sugar averages look good on a diabetes test, people with shorter-lived red blood cells might still have higher actual sugar levels throughout the day.

For adults with type 2 diabetes on a medically supervised very-low-carbohydrate diet with remote care, using continuous glucose monitoring does not lead to better outcomes in time spent in normal blood glucose range, HbA1c levels, or weight loss compared to standard blood glucose monitoring over three months.