To Your Health
April, 2018 (Vol. 12, Issue 04) |
|
|
Even Pre-Diabetes Is Risky
By Editorial Staff
Don't have
type 2 diabetes? That's good news. The bad news is your blood sugar may still be high enough to cause heart and kidney disease. Both conditions have been associated with a diabetes diagnosis, but new research suggests even non-diabetes sufferers whose blood sugar levels are elevated have a greater risk of developing either disease.
Researchers evaluated a national sample of more than 27,000 adults over four survey periods from 1988-2014 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). By 2014, people with pre-diabetes (fasting blood glucose of 100-125 mg/dL or 5.7-6.4 percent hemoglobin A1c) also had risk factors for heart and kidney disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, reduced kidney blood filtration and elevated urinary albumin. Findings were published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Pre-diabetes is on the rise, and as you might expect, so is diabetes. In the vast majority of cases, diet and exercise are both the cause and the solution: improper diet and lack of exercise lead to fasting high blood sugar and eventual diabetes, while a healthy diet and consistent exercise keep blood sugar in the safe range. Your doctor can tell you more about risk factors for type 2 diabetes and how to keep your blood sugar balanced throughout the day – every day.
