Diabetes and high blood sugar have a detrimental effect on many organs of the body. A person with diabetes is twice as likely as a person without diabetes to have a heart attack. Women with type 2 diabetes are at three or four times higher risk of heart disease than women without the disorder.

What happens is that diabetes increases the amount of fats circulating in the bloodstream. The fat gets stuck along the linings of the arteries and creates plaque that clogs the arteries. This makes it harder for blood to flow through the body, causing the heart to have to work harder and raising blood pressure. Higher blood pressure causes even more damage to the arteries.

Discover how to improve your health by controlling diabetes