According to the American Diabetes Association, there are 57 million Americans who have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a condition people develop before the onset of type-2 diabetes. It is more common in women, and a person’s risk increases with age and weight.

“Pre-diabetes occurs in individuals when blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not quite high enough to be called diabetes,” says Carolyn Swithers, director of the Center for Nutrition and Diabetes Management at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington. “It is alarming that people can have pre-diabetes and not even know it.”

Research has shown that some long-term damage to the body — especially the heart and circulatory system — already might be occurring during pre-diabetes.

“The good news is that you can take steps to delay or prevent type-2 diabetes with regular physical activity such as walking almost every day, reducing fat and calorie intake and weight loss,” Swithers says. “Lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels also help you stay healthy. Diabetes is a serious disease. It is not just a “touch of sugar.’ If you delay or prevent it, you will enjoy better health in the long run.”

Diabetes is common, but a person can reduce their risk by losing even a small amount of weight. Choose whole grain products. Snack on fruits and vegetables. Drink lots of water. Pass on seconds. Eat half of your dessert. See a dietitian for help in making healthy food choices. Keep a food and exercise log.

Small steps lead to big rewards.

“Regular exercise tackles several risk factors at once,” Swithers says. “It helps you lose weight, keeps your cholesterol and blood pressure under control, helps your body use insulin more effectively, cuts the risk of heart attack, strengthens your immune system, eases arthritis pain, protects against osteoporosis and keeps you thinking sharp as you age.”

Research also proved that people who are physically active for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, reduced their risk of type-2 diabetes. A person who is not very active should start slowly, talking with a physician first about what kinds of exercise would be safe.

Experts recommend making a plan to increase one’s activity level toward the goal of being active at least 30 minutes a day most days of the week. Wear a pedometer and do 10,000 steps a day. Ask a friend to walk with you. Walk to church or temple instead of driving. Walk the dog more often. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Yoga is another form of exercise that can help reduce blood sugar levels, blood pressure and weight.

Changing the way you eat and increasing your activity can delay or prevent type-2 diabetes.

“One of the most important things about diabetes is that it is a controllable disease,” Swithers says. “How you manage your diabetes care is very much up to you. You decide what and when to eat. You decide whether to exercise.”

DON’T BE A STATISTIC

About 4% of the total population of EU 25 (19 million) suffer from diabetes and this is projected to increase to 26 million people by the year 2030. As for the US, 24 million poeple (about 8%) have diabetes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 24 hours:

* More than 4,000 adults are diagnosed with diabetes.

* About 40 children and adolescents are diagnosed with type-1 diabetes.

* Ten children and adolescents are diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.

* Approximately 200 people die from diabetes.

* Around 200 people with diabetes have a nontraumatic lower-limb amputation.

* Roughly 130 people with diabetes develop kidney failure

* Nearly 50 adults go blind.

The Center for Nutrition and Diabetes Management offers a program to help individuals reduce their risk for pre-diabetes. Classes are held the second Wednesday of every month from 6 to 8 p.m. The fee for the program is $40, and more information is available by calling 908-237-6920.

Source: http://www.mycentraljersey.com

By Betizuka, Flickr

Pre-diabetes, also known as metabolic syndrome, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG), is an early sign that you may be at risk of developing full-blown type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is a stage where there is high insulin levels, high triglycerides. low HDL (good) cholesterol, insulin resistance, a growing waistline and blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. In other words, you are in the gray zone between “normal” and “diabetic”. You are a pre-diabetic if your blood glucose levels are between 5.6 mmol/l and 6.9 mmol/l.

Symptoms of pre-diabetes develop so gradually that most people affected by this condition often don’t recognize it until it is too late. At this stage, vital organs such as the heart, kidneys, arteries, nerves, eyes would have started to deteriorate due to the high insulin level in the blood caused by the body cells being insensitive to the insulin. People who are pre-diabetic have a 40% to 50% chance of developing into type 2 diabetes within 10 years. A good percentage of pre-diabetic people are over 40 years of age.

Pre-diabetes is caused by a combination of a weakened secretion of insulin and reduced sensitivity of the body cells to insulin (insulin resistance). Insulin resistance occurs when the pancreas secretes normal amount of insulin to regulate sugar but the body cells do not respond. If no preventive measures are taken to bring down the blood sugar level to a normal level, the pancreas would over a period of time becomes totally overworked and would be unable to produce enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance, resulting in your sugar levels rising to abnormally high levels. The excess sugar build up in the blood would then spills over to the urine and passes out of the body and eventually, this would lead to type 2 diabetes.

Although pre-diabetes is a serious condition but it can be reversed by making modest changes in their daily routines such as increasing the level of physical activity, achieved a healthy weight and follow a healthy balanced diet by eating fewer calories. Take action to prevent it from progressing to full blown diabetes as once you have it, there is nothing much you can do except that for the rest of your life you will have no choice but to change the way you eat and the way you live.