In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleRisk FactorsWhat Is Prediabetes?SymptomsWays to Lower Risk
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
Risk Factors
What Is Prediabetes?
Symptoms
Ways to Lower Risk
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Photo: Getty Images / MirageC
Prediabetes, a precursor to type 2 diabetes, is a condition that occurs when your blood sugar levels are higher than typical levels. The number of people with the condition is rising across the country, which is concerning as prediabetes can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease and experiencing other complications.
Those staggering statistics might have you asking some questions: Do I already have prediabetes? How do I know if I’m at risk? If you have a close family member living with diabetes, you may be curious about how likely you are to develop it. Are there warning signs or indications that can tell you your blood sugar is higher than it should be? Should you start checking your own blood sugar levels alongside your relative? Because diabetes can run in families, it’s natural to be curious about whether you’re at risk and how it might develop.
Fortunately, with healthy diet and lifestyle changes, diabetes can be delayed and complications can be prevented. Plus, not all individuals who develop prediabetes will proceed to develop full-blown diabetes. Read on to learn more about prediabetes, its symptoms, the factors that may increase your chance of developing it and what you can do to help prevent it.
Best and Worst Foods for Prediabetes
8 Risk Factors for Prediabetes
You might be at more risk for prediabetes than others if:
If you have one or more of these risk factors, talk to your doctor about your risks, and ask if you should be tested for prediabetes.
When your body does not respond to the insulin and cannot process the sugar in the bloodstream, you develop a condition known asinsulin resistance. This causes a cascade of events: To process the sugar in the blood, your body makes extra insulin. As time progresses and no lifestyle changes are made, insulin resistance worsens. The body cannot compensate for the high sugar levels in your blood, and type 2 diabetes sets in.
To be diagnosed as having prediabetes, your fasting blood sugar levels must be between 100 and 125 mg/dl (milligrams/deciliter).Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) is also an indicator of blood sugar patterns, and a level between 5.7% and 6.4% is indicative of prediabetes.
Prediabetes is a risk factor for heart disease and generally affects the small arteries, increasing your risk of stroke and heart attack.
Prediabetes Symptoms
Prediabetes is a “silent” disease. It usually has no symptoms. You might feel normal while the disease is progressing, and this can go on for several years.
Annual physicals can help you spot unusually high blood sugar levels. Most health care providers check blood glucose numbers at a regular appointment. If your numbers show an unusual pattern, your doctor may request blood tests to check for prediabetes.
4 Ways to Lower Your Risk of Prediabetes
If you are diagnosed with prediabetes, following these steps can help prevent progression to diabetes:
1. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Exercise regularly. Thirty minutes of physical activity five times a week can lower your risk. Pick an activity—dancing, swimming, running—that you enjoy, then get moving. And remember that any and all movement counts. Take the stairs instead of the elevator and stand up from your desk each hour. These little bits of movement can add up over the course of the day.
This Is How Often You Should Exercise Each Week, According to the World Health Organization
3. Eat a Balanced Diet
Making healthy food choices and developing eating patterns that are beneficial for your health can go a long way in reducing your risk of diabetes. TheMediterranean diet,which is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish, has shown potential for lowering the risk of diabetes. A review of the literature concluded that greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet is linked to a 19% reduction in the risk of diabetes.
4. Invest in a Glucose Monitor
A glucose monitor can be a helpful tool to check your blood sugar levels at home. If you have prediabetes, keeping an eye on your blood sugar levels can help you make the necessary changes in your diet and also act as a motivator.
The Bottom Line
These changes in your lifestyle can make a huge difference and cut your risk of developing diabetes. Drugs like metformin are successful in reducing diabetes risk, but talk to your doctor to know if you need them. Lifestyle modifications are more effective than drugs when it comes to reducing prediabetes symptoms, lowering blood sugar levels and preventing the condition from progressing to type 2 diabetes.
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SourcesEatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.Tabák, A. G., Herder, C., Rathmann, W., Brunner, E. J., & Kivimäki, M. (2012).Prediabetes: a high-risk state for diabetes development.The Lancet,379(9833), 2279–2290. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60283-9American Diabetes Association.Understanding Diabetes Diagnosis.American Diabetes Association.Prediabetes.Schwingshackl, L., Missbach, B., König, J., & Hoffmann, G. (2014).Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and risk of diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Public Health Nutrition,18(7), 1292–1299. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980014001542
Sources
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.Tabák, A. G., Herder, C., Rathmann, W., Brunner, E. J., & Kivimäki, M. (2012).Prediabetes: a high-risk state for diabetes development.The Lancet,379(9833), 2279–2290. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60283-9American Diabetes Association.Understanding Diabetes Diagnosis.American Diabetes Association.Prediabetes.Schwingshackl, L., Missbach, B., König, J., & Hoffmann, G. (2014).Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and risk of diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Public Health Nutrition,18(7), 1292–1299. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980014001542
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
Tabák, A. G., Herder, C., Rathmann, W., Brunner, E. J., & Kivimäki, M. (2012).Prediabetes: a high-risk state for diabetes development.The Lancet,379(9833), 2279–2290. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60283-9American Diabetes Association.Understanding Diabetes Diagnosis.American Diabetes Association.Prediabetes.Schwingshackl, L., Missbach, B., König, J., & Hoffmann, G. (2014).Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and risk of diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Public Health Nutrition,18(7), 1292–1299. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980014001542
Tabák, A. G., Herder, C., Rathmann, W., Brunner, E. J., & Kivimäki, M. (2012).Prediabetes: a high-risk state for diabetes development.The Lancet,379(9833), 2279–2290. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60283-9
American Diabetes Association.Understanding Diabetes Diagnosis.
American Diabetes Association.Prediabetes.
Schwingshackl, L., Missbach, B., König, J., & Hoffmann, G. (2014).Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and risk of diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Public Health Nutrition,18(7), 1292–1299. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980014001542
