How do I know if I have prediabetes or diabetes?6,7
The most used method for diagnosing prediabetes is called fasting blood glucose (blood sugar after fasting for at least 8 hours).
Let’s uncover diabetes and prediabetes together.
Here you’ll find out all about these pathologies and the best path to a healthier life!
Diabetes happens when your body doesn’t use insulin properly, that is, when there is an imbalance in insulin metabolism, leading to a rise in blood glucose (sugar) levels.
If your blood glucose levels are consistently high enough, your doctor will diagnose you as being diabetic.
Having your blood glucose levels elevated for a long time can cause damage to many of the body’s organs,1 so it is important to correctly manage diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes usually develops in children, adolescents or young adults, but can also appear in adults and even in the elderly. In type 1 diabetes, the body (the pancreas) does not produce insulin. With the help of insulin therapy and other treatments, you can learn to manage your condition and live a long, healthy life.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, occurs at any age, but is more common in overweight adults. In this type of diabetes, your body produces less insulin and the insulin has less of an effect (this is called “insulin resistance”). And while some people can control their blood sugar levels with healthy eating and exercise, others may need medication or insulin to help manage it.
Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and can be a scary diagnosis, noting that increases the risk of developing prediabetes and diabetes thereafter. But like other forms of diabetes, it’s one that you can manage! And, by working with your doctor, you can have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Prediabetes comes first in the patient’s journey!
When it comes to prediabetes, there are no clear symptoms—so you may have it and not know it.
Here’s why that’s important: before people develop type 2 diabetes, they almost always have prediabetes—blood sugar levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.3,4 Thus, suffering from prediabetes means having a high risk to develop type 2 diabetes.5
The most used method for diagnosing prediabetes is called fasting blood glucose (blood sugar after fasting for at least 8 hours).
| FASTING BLOOD GLUCOSE | |
|---|---|
|
NORMAL |
70-99 mg/dL. |
|
PREDIABETES |
100-125 mg/dL in at least 2 measurements. |
|
DIABETES |
≥126 mg/dL in at least 2 measurements. |
You may have some of the symptoms of diabetes or even some of the complications. The good news is that even if you are prediabetic, diabetes can be avoided. Simple changes to your lifestyle can delay, and in some individuals, prevent diabetes from developing.
So rather than being bad news, being identified as prediabetic gives you a second chance to make the changes necessary to hopefully avoid developing diabetes.
| HbA1C | |
|---|---|
|
NORMAL |
<5.7%. |
|
PREDIABETES |
5.7-6.4%. |
|
DIABETES |
≥ 6.5%. |
In prediabetes, blood glucose levels are raised above healthy levels, but are not high enough to be in the diabetic range, indicating increased risk for developing diabetes.
There are no obvious signs or symptoms – 8 out of 10 people with prediabetes are completely unaware they are prediabetic.8
Finding out you have prediabetes gives you the opportunity to control your blood glucose levels before your condition progresses to diabetes; prediabetes may be your opportunity to have a healthier life.7
Diabetes occurs when there is not enough insulin in the blood to reduce blood glucose to a safe level.
Because symptoms are hard to spot, it’s important to know the risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
Managing diabetes is vital to prevent irreversible damage to your organs due to high blood glucose levels.9
FASTING PLASMA GLUCOSE: 5.9-6.9 mmol/L (100-125 mg/dl)
2-hour plasma glucose: 7.8-11.0 mmol/L (140-199 mg/dl)
HbA 1c: 5.7-6.4%
FASTING PLASMA GLUCOSE: ≥7.0 mmol/L (≥126 mg/dL)
2-hour plasma glucose: ≥11.1 mmol/L (≥200 mg/dL)
HbA 1c: ≥6.5%
If you’ve been diagnosed recently, you’ve come to the right place. This is the beginning of a deeper understanding of how you can live a healthier life – with all the tools, health tips and food ideas you need!
Whether you have prediabetes or diabetes, wherever you are, know that you have options.
1. Medline Plus. Prediabetes. Available at https://medlineplus.gov/prediabetes.html. Accessed June 2022.
2. American Diabetes Association. Available at https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes. Accessed June 2022.
3. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. Prediabetes – Your Chance to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/prediabetes.html. Accessed June 2022.
4. Asociación Latinoamericana de Diabetes. Consenso de Prediabetes. Available at: https://www.revistaalad.com/abstract.php?id=362. Acessed June 2022
5. R. Llanes de Torres, F. Arrieta, G. Mora Navarro, Prediabetes en atención primaria: diagnóstico… ¿y tratamiento?, Atención Primaria, Volume 37, Issue 7, 2006, Pages 400-406, ISSN 0212-6567, https://doi.org/10.1157/13087385. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0212656706703882).
6. MD. Saude. Prediabetes: what is it, diagnosis and treatment. Available at: https://www.mdsaude.com/es/endocrinologia-es/prediabetes/. Acessed June 2022
7. ADA. Diagnosing Diabetes and Learning About Prediabetes. Available at: http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/prediabetes/. Accessed June 2022.
8. CDC. The Surprising Truth About Prediabetes. 2017. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/features/truth-about-prediabetes.html. Accessed June 2022.
9. Mayo Clinic. Type 2 Diabetes. Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351199. Accessed June 2022. Acessed June 2022
