Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body's cells become resistant to insulin.

• A. The pancreas stops producing insulin
• B. The body's cells become resistant to insulin
• C. Insulin is produced in excess
• D. There is no insulin in the blood

Answer: (B)

Insulin helps the body's cells take up glucose from the blood, so when the cells become resistant to insulin, they don’t respond properly to this signal. In type 2 diabetes, that resistance means glucose stays in the bloodstream and energy isn’t delivered efficiently to cells. The pancreas often compensates by producing more insulin at first, but over time its capacity can decline, which further raises blood glucose. This description fits type 2 best because the core issue isn’t a complete loss or a surplus of insulin but the diminished ability of cells to respond to insulin. The other statements describe situations that aren’t typical of type 2: it isn’t simply that insulin production stops entirely, nor that insulin is produced in excess as the defining problem, nor that there is no insulin in the blood.