About a week ago, I received an email from a woman I met on another diabetes website. This woman proudly announced the doctor told her she does not have diabetes but pre-diabetes instead. She wanted to celebrate this information with everyone. A part of me was happy for this individual but another part of my brain wondered if this person would start taking her health seriously with this news. I mean should anyone be concerned about pre-diabetes? Maybe if people understand the causes and problems with pre-diabetes they will take it seriously.

• What is pre-diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is a condition where someone’s body is insulin resistant. Health professionals used to call it “borderline diabetes” but the name was changed because researchers found most people with this condition were not taking this disease seriously. People with pre-diabetes have fasting blood sugar of 100-125mg/dl and an after meal blood glucose between 140-199mg/dl. They have these values without any blood glucose medications.

• Why we should be concerned about pre-diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is rising in epidemic proportions. According to recent statistics, 54 million adults between the ages of 40-70 years old have pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes increases your risk of developing heart disease by 150%. Also, most people with pre-diabetes will develop diabetes within 10 years.

• Who is at risk for pre-diabetes?

Inactive and overweight people are at risk for pre-diabetes. Women who had diabetes when they were pregnant (gestational diabetes) fall into this category. Anyone of Latino, Asian or African ancestry has a greater chance of developing pre-diabetes. In addition, anyone with a family history of diabetes is at risk. Since two thirds of the US population is overweight almost everyone is a target.

• How to treat pre-diabetes?

Lifestyle changes are the best way to treat pre-diabetes. Losing at least 7% of body weight will help. For example, someone weighing 200 pounds would need to lose about 14 pounds. Exercising at least 2 ½ hours a week will make a difference. Sounds tough? This adds up to only 20 minutes a day of movement. Also, reducing your fat intake to less than 25% of total calories per day can help to treat pre-diabetes.

I hope this blog with help anyone with pre-diabetes to start taking this condition seriously. Email me at askard@stablebloodsugar.com if you have any questions. Allison