In Australia, one person is diagnosed with diabetes every 5 minutes. That’s 280 per day. Many of these people had been living with prediabetes for years – they just didn’t know it.

WHAT IS PREDIABETES?
Prediabetes is a term used when your blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough that to be classified as type 2 diabetes. Your body is essentially not processing the sugar you consume in your diet correctly. Sugar normally enters the bloodstream once food is digested and then travels out to fuel all our cells. With prediabetes, the sugars accumulate in our blood instead.

Prediabetes is actually more common than you think – an estimated 200 million people worldwide are currently affected by prediabetes. In Australia, the prevalence of prediabetes is also on the rise.

WHAT CAUSES IT?
Prediabetes results from the combination of genetic and environmental factors that lead to abnormal blood sugar levels. Although we can not alter our family history, we can make dramatic changes to our lifestyle habits. The common risk factors that can increase your risk of prediabetes (and type 2 diabetes) are:

Being overweight or obese
Poor dietary habits
Physical inactivity
Family history of diabetes
Older age
Smoking
History of gestational diabetes or polycystic ovary syndrome

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE PREDIABETES?
Most people with prediabetes will feel fine. In fact, almost half won’t even know they have it! You don’t get the usual symptoms that are associated with diabetes, such as increased urination, thirst and hunger. Laboratory diagnosis is required for prediabetes. Once you have a blood test, your fasting blood sugar levels can show up as elevated.

Blood sugars are tested at varying time intervals after the consumption of a large (75g) quantity of sugar. In technical terms, prediabetes can be classified by:

Impaired fasting tolerance result of ≥ 6.1 mmol/L but < 6.9 mmol/L; or
Impaired glucose tolerance concentration of < 7.0 mmol/L; and
2-hour post-load plasma glucose concentration of ≥ 7.8 and 11.1 mmol/L
There are other tests to detect prediabetes, such as haemoglobin A1c (≥6.5%) – which measures the average blood sugar over weeks.

Learn more about diabetes and exercise.
walking as exercise

CAN YOU REVERSE IT?
The short answer, yes! Prediabetes is a warning sign. Just because you’re diagnosed with prediabetes doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to get type 2 diabetes. It’s estimated that 3-10% of those with prediabetes will become diabetic every year. By managing your body weight, eating a well-balanced diet, increasing your exercise levels and having a regular sleeping pattern, there is a reasonable chance that you can reverse prediabetes.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAVE PREDIABETES?
Having high blood sugar can be harmful. It’s associated with several metabolic abnormalities including resistance to the insulin hormone and elevated blood lipids. The potent combination of these can cause damage to your blood vessels, nerves and almost every organ of our bodies.

It’s not all bad news though….

If you’re motivated and willing, it’s easy to make positive changes to your health! Some simple lifestyle adjustments include:
Having a healthy diet – consume lots of leafy green vegetables at every meal, fruit and lean proteins. Reduce the number of refined carbohydrates (cookies, fries and chips) as these can cause your blood sugar levels to rise
Perform regular exercise – aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise buy dihydroboldenone cypionate on multcofair.org most days of the week
Cessation of smoking – if you’re a smoker, quit!

The key is consistency. Utilise the resources and services provided by diabetes educators, your GP and allied health professionals to help you adopt these new habits.