We all probably are familiar with diabetes. At the very least, we may know a person in our family or close to us diagnosed with this condition. People with diabetes certainly need diabetes care to live a better life. While you may be familiar with diabetes, have you actually heard prediabetic? In this article, we will learn more about prediabetic and what to avoid if you have this condition.
What exactly is prediabetic? Prediabetes is a condition where a blood sugar level is higher than normal but insufficient to be said as type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes occurs in people with some insulin resistance or the beta cells in pancreas unable to produce insulin to keep the blood sugar within the normal. This means that when insulin is not enough to keep the blood sugar level within the normal range, the extra sugar will then just stay in the blood system rather than being used by the cells.
Data has shown that around 319 million people have been affected with prediabetes with the projection or estimation of 441 million people will have prediabetes in the year 2045. This shows that the number of those with prediabetes are expected to increase. Hence, knowing what prediabetes is can actually be a good way to lower the number of patients with diabetes as we all know that prediabetes is often known as the start of a diabetes.
Do you know that you can have prediabetes for years? The worst part is, you may not have symptoms throughout the time and this itself will lead to the condition remain undetected until type 2 diabetes really shows up. Thus, it is important for you to talk about blood sugar test should you have any risk factor such as being overweight, age 45 or older, have family history of parent or siblings with type 2 diabetes, being less physically active of less than 3 times a week, woman who had gestational diabetes or have given birth to heavy weight baby and diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome.
To diagnose prediabetes, similar to diabetes, is to check for the blood glucose level itself. This is often done through fasting plasma glucose (FPG) or HbA1c. The FPG test can show the current blood glucose level whereas the HbA1c can give information on the average blood glucose level over the past 3 months. There is another test that may be used with the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in many cases of diabetes but it is less often used in prediabetes as it may not detect the prediabetes condition itself. In prediabetes, the result for FGP would be 100 to 125 mg/dL and HbA1c with 5.7 to 6.4. It is worth noting that these numbers may be slightly different due to laboratory standards. It is best to ask doctors for more information regarding the test done.
The issue with prediabetes is the health condition that may occur, which is almost the same with diabetes. People with prediabetes do have a high risk of heart disease and stroke. Of course, the risk is even higher in people with diabetes. Those with prediabetes have chances to actually reduce the likelihood of falling into diabetes. People with prediabetes can have up to 50% chances of developing diabetes in the next 5 to 10 years. Chances to develop diabetes are over 70% when prediabetes occurs in those aged 60 and above. Thus, the best way to manage prediabetes is to prevent type 2 diabetes.
Below are ways on managing prediabetes and preventing diabetes:
- Regular physical activity with the aim of 30 minutes or more on all or most days of the weak. The goal is with at least 150 minutes per week of exercises.
- Lose the extra weight by eating smaller portion and choosing healthy food
- Leram how to manage stress and to ensure you are motivated to keep on being healthy
- Ask for support by joining people who also aim to have a healthy life
Speaking of food, there are many foods that may seem to bring more bad than good. However, if you do have prediabetes, this does not mean you are unable to enjoy eating. You can eat more fruits and vegetables, especially non starchy ones such as broccoli and asparagus. You can also eat more wholegrains such as wholegrain rice such as wild rice and basmati, or even oats. You can still eat meat but choose lean meat or plant-based protein. You should know by now that food that contains high sugar content has to be avoided. This includes drinks with sugar content such as soft drinks and fruits juices with high added sugar. You may also want to avoid candied dried fruits and refined carbohydrates such as white bread and sugary cereals. You may also want to be careful with sauces or jams used in your daily food as it may contain high sugar content.
