You have prediabetes if your blood sugar level is higher than usual. The story is not yet high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. However, prediabetic adults and kids are at a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes if their lifestyles are not changed.
The long-term effects of diabetes, particularly those on your heart, blood vessels, and kidneys, may have already begun if you have prediabetes. However, there is good news. It’s not a given that someone with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes.
Your blood sugar level may return to normal with a balanced diet, regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight. The same lifestyle modifications that may prevent type 2 diabetes in adults may also be used to normalize blood sugar levels in kids.
Symptoms
Prediabetes often has neither symptoms nor indicators.
Darkened skin on specific body areas is one potential indicator of prediabetes. The neck, armpits, and groin may all be affected.
Traditional warning signs and symptoms indicating type 2 diabetes has replaced prediabetes include:
- Increased thirst
- Frequent urination
- Increased appetite
- Fatigue
- Distorted vision
- Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
- Many infections
- Slowly healing wounds
- Unwanted loss of weight
When To See A Doctor
Consult your doctor if you have diabetes concerns or any type 2 diabetes signs or symptoms. If you have any diabetic risk factors, speak with your doctor about blood sugar testing.
Causes
There is no recognised reason for prediabetes. However, it seems that genetics and family history are significant factors. It is evident that patients with prediabetes no longer adequately digest sugar (glucose).
Your diet accounts for the majority of the glucose in your body. After digestion, sugar gets into your circulation. Insulin reduces blood sugar levels while allowing sugar to enter your cells.
The pancreas, a gland found beneath the stomach, produces insulin. When you eat, your pancreas releases insulin into your blood. The pancreas decreases the release of insulin into the blood when your blood sugar begins to fall.
This technique is less effective if you have prediabetes. Consequently, sugar builds up in your circulation rather than providing energy for your cells. This is feasible because:
Perhaps your pancreas isn’t producing enough insulin.
Your cells develop insulin resistance and stop absorbing as much sugar.
Risk Factors
The same risk factors for type 2 diabetes also raise the possibility of developing prediabetes. These elements consist of:
- Weight. One of the main risk factors for prediabetes is being overweight. Your cells grow more insulin-resistant the more fatty tissue you have, particularly within and between the muscle and skin surrounding your belly.
- Waist circumference. Ample waist size may indicate insulin resistance. Men with waists over 40 inches and women with waists above 35 inches are at an increased risk of developing insulin resistance.
- Diet. An increased risk of prediabetes is linked to consuming red meat, processed meat, and drinks with added sugar.
- Inactivity. Your chance of developing prediabetes increases the less active you are.
- Age. Even though diabetes may occur at any age, the risk of prediabetes rises after age 35.
- Family background. Having a parent or sibling with type 2 diabetes raises your chance of developing prediabetes.
- Ethnicity or race. Certain persons, particularly those who are Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian American, are more prone to acquire prediabetes. However, it is unknown why.
- Pregnancy diabetes. Both you and your kid are at an increased risk of getting prediabetes if you have gestational diabetes.
- Polycystic ovaries. Prediabetes is more likely in women with this prevalent illness, which is characterized by irregular menstrual cycles, excessive hair growth, and obesity.
- Sleep. Insulin resistance is more likely in those who have obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder that often interrupts sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea is more likely to occur in overweight or obese people.
- Cigarette smoke. Smoking may worsen insulin resistance in persons with prediabetes and raise the chance of developing type 2 diabetes. Smoking increases your chance of developing diabetes-related problems.
Additional conditions linked to a higher risk of prediabetes include:
- Elevated blood pressure
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good” cholesterol, levels that are too low
- High blood triglyceride levels are a kind of fat.
Metabolic Syndrome
Obesity-related disorders linked to insulin resistance may raise your chance of developing diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Metabolic syndrome is a term used to describe three or more of these disorders together:
- Elevated blood pressure
- Low HDL values
- Elevated triglycerides
- High amounts of blood sugar
- Enormous waist size
Complications
Even if you have not yet developed type 2 diabetes, prediabetes has been linked to long-term harm to your heart, blood vessels, and kidneys. Diabetes is also associated with quiet (unrecognised) heart attacks.
Type 2 diabetes may develop from prediabetes and cause:
- Elevated blood pressure
- High triglycerides
- Heart condition
- Stroke
- Kidney disease
- Nerve injury
- A fatty liver condition
- Damage to the eyes, including visual loss
- Amputations
Prevention
Even if diabetes runs in your family, adopting a healthy lifestyle may help you avoid prediabetes and its development into type 2 diabetes. These consist of:
- Eating nutritious food
- Getting moving
- Shedding extra pounds
- Managing your cholesterol and blood pressure
- Smoking-free diagnosis
Diagnosis
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that most persons start being tested for diabetes around age 35. If you are overweight and have other risk factors for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, the ADA recommends having a diabetes test before age 35.
Your doctor will probably monitor your blood sugar levels at least once every three years if you have gestational diabetes.
For prediabetes, there are numerous blood tests available.
Test For Glycated Haemoglobin (A1c)
This test determines your average blood sugar level over the previous two to three months.
Normal is 5.7% or less. An estimated 5.7% to 6.4% of people have prediabetes. Diabetes is identified by a 6.5% or greater on two independent tests.
The A1C test may not be reliable if you have some medical issues, such as pregnancy or a rare kind of hemoglobin.
Blood Sugar Test After Fasting
A blood sample is obtained after you’ve fasted for at least eight hours or overnight.
Millimoles of sugar per liter (mmol/L) of blood or milligrammes per deciliter (mg/dL) express blood sugar levels.
- Average values are lower than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L).
- Prediabetes diagnosis ranges from 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L).
- Diagnosing diabetes requires 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L) or greater on two tests.
Test For Oral Glucose Tolerance
Except for when a woman is pregnant, this test is less often used than the others. Before drinking a sweet beverage at the primary care physician’s office or the location of the lab test, you must fast the previous night. Blood sugar levels are checked regularly for the next two hours.
- Average values are below 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L).
- A prediabetes range of 140 to 199 mg/dL (7.8 to 11.0 mmol/L) is normal.
- After two hours, 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L) or more indicates diabetes.
- Your doctor will typically monitor your blood sugar levels at least once a year if you have prediabetes.
Testing For Prediabetes In Children
Children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes are becoming increasingly prevalent, most likely due to the growth in pediatric obesity.
Children who are obese or overweight have one or more additional risk factors for type 2 diabetes. It is recommended to do prediabetes testing for these kids.
- Type 2 diabetes runs in the family.
- Being of a race or ethnicity that has a higher risk
- Low birth weight
- Having a mother with gestational diabetes at the time of birth
- The blood sugar ranges that define normal, prediabetes, and diabetes are the same for both adults and children.
Children with prediabetes should have yearly type 2 diabetes screenings, or more often, if they suffer weight changes or show disease symptoms, including increased thirst, urination, lethargy, or impaired vision.
Treatment
Healthy lifestyle choices may assist you in lowering your blood sugar levels to normal ranges or, at the very least, prevent them from increasing to those associated with type 2 diabetes.
Try the following to avoid prediabetes turning into type 2 diabetes:
- Eat nutritious meals. A decreased risk of prediabetes is linked to a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and olive oil. Pick meals that are rich in fiber and low in fat and calories. To assist you in achieving your objectives without sacrificing flavor or nutrients, eat various meals.
- Be more energetic. Exercise aids in weight management, burns sugar for energy and improves insulin sensitivity. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise, 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, or a mix of both per week.
- Reduce your weight. The risk of type 2 diabetes may be considerably decreased if you are overweight by decreasing merely 5% to 7% of your body weight, about 14 pounds (6.4 kilograms) if you weigh 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Concentrate on making long-lasting adjustments to your food and exercise routines to maintain a healthy weight.
- Give up smoking. Quitting smoking may enhance insulin’s performance, lowering blood sugar levels.
- As required, take your meds. Your doctor could suggest metformin (Glumetza) if you have a high risk of developing diabetes. Prescribing drugs to treat high blood pressure and cholesterol may also be necessary.
Treatment for children with prediabetes
Prediabetic children should adopt the lifestyle modifications advised for adults with type 2 diabetes, including:
- Shedding pounds
- Eating more fiber and less refined fats and carbs
- Decreasing serving sizes
- Dining out less often
- Engaging in physical exercise for at least one hour each day
- Medication is usually only advised for kids with prediabetes once lifestyle adjustments are lowering blood sugar levels. Metformin is frequently suggested if the prescription is required.