What Is Prediabetes?

Prediabetes is a “pre-diagnosis” of diabetes—you can think of it as a warning sign. This condition arises when your blood glucose level (blood sugar level) is higher than normal but it’s not high enough to be considered diabetes.

The Good News is…

Recognizing Prediabetes: Common Causes and Risk Factors  

• Weight: If you’re overweight (have a body mass index—a BMI—of higher than 25), you’re at high risk for developing prediabetes, especially if you carry a lot of extra weight in your abdomen, you may develop prediabetes. The extra fat cells can cause your body to become more insulin resistant.
• Lack of physical activity: This often goes hand-in-hand with being overweight. If you aren’t physically active, you’re more likely to develop prediabetes.
• Family history: Prediabetes has a hereditary factor. If someone in your close family has (or had) it, you are more likely to develop it.
• Race/ethnicity: Certain ethnic groups are more likely to develop prediabetes, including African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans.
• Age: The older you are, the more at risk you are for developing prediabetes. At age 45, your risk starts to rise, and after age 65, your risk increases exponentially.
• Gestational diabetes: If you developed diabetes while you were pregnant, that increases your risk for developing prediabetes later on.

Other health problems: High blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol (the “bad” LDL cholesterol) increase your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) also raises the risk of prediabetes because it’s related to insulin resistance. In PCOS, many cysts form in your ovaries, and one possible cause is insulin resistance. If you have PCOS, that means you may be insulin resistant and therefore at risk for developing prediabetes.

If you have hypothyroidism (low thyroid function; not enough circulating thyroid hormone), and you have prediabetes, then your risk of developing T2D more than doubles in comparison to individuals with normal thyroid function.

Know the Lifestyle Recommendations for Taking Control of Prediabetes

• Evaluate Your Food Choices: A registered dietitian (RD) or certified diabetes educator (CDE) can help you create a meal plan respects your preferred foods and also reflects good-for-your-blood-glucose-level foods. The goal of the healthy food plan is to assure that you are controlling your blood glucose level by keeping it in a healthy, normal range. Your meal plan should be adjusted to be comfortable and satisfying to you, taking into account your overall health, physical activity, and what you like to eat. There are no diets out there that will work nearly as well as one that has been worked out with your likes and dislikes, cultural preferences,

• Exercise: When you exercise, your body uses more glucose, so exercising can lower your blood glucose level. Also when you exercise, your body doesn’t need as much insulin to transport the glucose; your body becomes less insulin resistant. Since your body isn’t using insulin well when you have prediabetes, lower insulin resistance is a very good thing.And of course, there are all the traditional benefits of exercise: it can help you lose weight, keep your heart healthy, make you sleep better, and even improve your mood.The American Diabetes Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week—that’s 30 minutes five days a week. You can get that through activities such as walking, bike riding, or swimming.

• Lose weight: If you’re overweight, you should get started on a weight loss program as soon as you’re diagnosed with prediabetes. Losing just 5 to 10% of your weight can significantly reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The combination of eating well and exercising more is a great way to lose weight—and then maintain your new, healthy weight.

• Metformin: For people who are at very high risk of developing type 2 diabetes after being diagnosed with prediabetes, the doctor may recommend medication. The healthcare professional says that metformin can be used to prevent T2D. It works by keeping the liver from making more glucose when you don’t need it, thereby keeping your blood glucose level in a better range.