Q:What is meant by pre-diabetes?

A: Pre-diabetes is now a diagnosis. It's when blood glucose is higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. You may also hear it called "impaired glucose tolerance." As with type 2 diabetes, people with pre-diabetes often have insulin resistance. Two things happen when with pre-diabetes and type 2. People slowly lose their insulin - making cells - beta cells. By the time people are diagnosed with type 2 they have often lost half their beta cells. The body tries hard when you develop pre-diabetes to work overtime to produce more and more insulin. When it can no longer produce enough to control your blood glucose is when your blood glucose rises into pre-diabetes ranges. People develop a relative insullin deficiency - a lot is produced but not enough to cover your needs. Also, people typically develop insulin resistance—when the body's cells aren't able to use the insulin it makes oo an insensitivity to the body's insulin. People with pre-diabetes, as with type 2 diabetes often also have high blood pressure and abnormal blood cholesterol (lipid) levels which also arises, in part, due to insulin resistance.

See the list of risk factors for pre-diabetes below.

The numbers to diagnose pre-diabetes are: fasting between 100 - 125 mg/dl and random blood glucose between 140 - 199 mg/dl. Millions of people worldwide have pre-diabetes—about 50 million or more in the U.S.

A large study completed in 2003 called the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), showed that losing ~ 5 to 10 lbs (10-20% of starting body weight) and getting 150 minutes of physcial activity (usually walking) a week (30 minutes 5 times a week), helped people prevent progressing from pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes. My book Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy can help you make the type of step by step changes people did in the DPP to eat healthier and trim off a few pounds.

If you have pre-diabetes: TAKE ACTION NOW!

You are likely to have pre-diabetes if you:

  • have a parent or sibling who has or had diabetes
  • are African American, Hispanic American, Native
  • are American/American Indian, Asian American or Pacific Islander
  • have low HDL (good cholesterol) <35
  • have high triglyceride >250
  • have high blood pressure >140/90
  • have a history of gestational diabetes or having babies weighing >9 pounds at birth
  • are overweight (BMI > 25)