Diabetes is a known risk to your wellbeing, but did you know that many people have a condition called prediabetes, and most of them aren’t aware of it?
When you’re prediabetic, this means your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but that level isn’t high enough to warrant a diabetes diagnosis. It’s a more prominent condition in men than in women, yet this should be a serious wellness wake up call to anyone, as a prediabetes diagnosis means it is time for action to prevent diabetes.
Vivian Fonseca, MD, a professor of medicine and pharmacology and chief of endocrinology at Tulane University Health Sciences Centre in New Orleans explains, ‘In simple terms, there is a gap between what we call diabetes, which is a fasting blood sugar of 126 and above, and normal, which is less than 100 fasting’. She says that in between this gap ‘you have impaired fasting glucose. If you do a glucose tolerance test, and you are in the gap, you have prediabetes. You are at risk for getting diabetes in the future and you are also at risk for heart disease.’
To prevent prediabetes developing into diabetes, Fonseca recommends ‘Walking 30 minutes a day and reducing weight by 5 percent can decrease the risk [of getting type 2 diabetes] by 60 percent over three years’. She warns against medications that claim to have the same effects, as they can be costly to your wallet as well as your wellbeing. Making weight-reducing lifestyle changes is crucial, Fonseca explains, because ‘One of the links with obesity is that fat induces a mild low-grade inflammation throughout the body that contributes to heart disease and diabetes’ and so not making these changes means you could be facing type 2 diabetes in 10 years time.
The American Diabetic Association recommends that you should get tested for prediabetes if you are over 45, or have a family history of diabetes, a physically inactive lifestyle, high blood pressure, polycystic ovarian syndrome, a dark velvety rash around the neck or if you have Native American, African or Hispanic heritage. Fonseca warns that prediabetes is a ‘silent’ condition, and though some people experience symptoms such as fatigue or increased urination, most people’s blood sugar rises without any outward signs at all. If your test reveals prediabetes, depending on your doctor’s recommendations you should look to get tested again in a year or two.
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