Pre Diabetes – What It Is And What You Can Do About It

While more than 20 million Americans have diabetes, it is estimated that a further 60 million have a condition known as pre-diabetes, which is also referred to as Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) or Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG).

People with pre-diabetes have blood-glucose levels that are higher than normal, but are not quite high enough for them to be classified as a diabetic.

A normal blood glucose level for a fasting plasma glucose test is less than 100 mg per deciliter. A person is considered to have diabetes if their fasting blood glucose level is above 126 mg per deciliter. If your blood glucose level falls between this range you are considered a pre-diabetic.

Similarly a reading between 140 and 199 mg der deciliter 2 hours after drinking a glucose rich beverage (known as the oral glucose tolerance test or OGTT) is indicative of pre-diabetes.

The vast majority of people with pre-diabetes show no symptoms, however pre-diabetics do tend to be overweight, have higher than normal blood pressure, and high triglyceride and/or cholesterol levels.

It is estimated that around 50% of pre-diabetics will eventually go on to develop diabetes however the other half manage to stabilize or even reverse the condition so that they fall into the normal blood glucose range again.

Pre-diabetics are recommended to make the same changes to their meal plans as a diabetic would. This includes reducing overall food intake, choosing foods with a low glycemic index (GI), reducing intake of sugary beverages, reducing total fat intake especially from high fat dairy products such as whole milk, ice cream, and butter, switching to wholegrain breads and cereals, and eating a diet high in fruit and vegetables.

Lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking, increasing exercise levels, and reducing overall body weight are also recommended.