Prediabetes: Is Your Body Keeping Dangerous Secrets From You?

Prediabetes is a disease which affects the body’s management of blood sugar. It is a danger to health in and of itself, and it is also often a precursor to the more serious blood sugar management disease known as diabetes. According to a 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of U.S. adults have prediabetes, but only 13 percent of them are aware of ^it.[1] 

Diabetes is also often overlooked, according to a recent UK study.^[2] In the study, 200,000 blood samples were analyzed, revealing more than 2,000 cases of diabetes which were not diagnosed at the time the blood samples were first processed. Most of those cases did not get correctly diagnosed for at least 2 years afterwards, some for 5 or more years. 

However, even when either illness is correctly diagnosed based on the standard criteria, it is very likely that blood sugar management problems have already existed for several years. According to the American Association of Endocrinologists, rising blood glucose levels should be viewed as a gradually more and more serious problem, with medical conditions worsening as blood glucose levels go up.^[3]

The solution? Monitor blood sugar levels closely, being watchful for increases over time, whether or not they have risen to the level of a prediabetes or diabetes diagnosis. If you do see such increases, the good news is that they can be reduced or reversed by lifestyle changes related to diet and exercise.

To learn more about how problems with blood sugar mismanagement can sneak up on you, do the eSavvyHeath Course Get Savvy About Blood Sugar, or get our free eBook: Blood Sugar, An Introduction. 

[1] National Diabetes Statistics Report 2020, Estimates of Diabetes and Its Burden in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[2] Screening UK Biobank blood samples identifies thousands of undiagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes

[3] Dysglycemia-Based Chronic Disease: An American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists Position Statement, 2018 Mechanick, Jeffrey; Garber, Alan; Grunberger, George; Handelsman, Yehuda, Garvey, W. Timothy. Endocrine Practice The Journal for Clinical Endocrinologists, 2018 Nov;24(11):995-1011. doi: 10.4158/PS-2018-0139.