Are You At Risk for Diabetes? 90% of Prediabetics Don't Know

Last week I had my yearly physical done and my doctor made, what I thought was an unusual comment. She applauded me for ensuring that I saw her and my GYN every year. My intitial thought was, "Well, doesn't everyone??" A recent study by the CDC featured on Everyday Health proved me wrong. According to the CDC, in 2010 prediabetes affected 79 million people, and 90 percent of those people didn't know that they had the condition or faced a high risk of developing diabetes. Prediabetes is having blood sugar levels that are higher than normal, but not high enough to indicate that you have diabetes. People with predibetes have an increaed risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Of African-Americans 20 years or older, 4.9 million or 18.7%  have diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes. The problem is that if these people don't know that they are prediabetic, they won't make the necessary steps to make lifestyle changes such changing their diet or developing an exercise routine. Studies have shown that people with who lose weight and increase physical activity can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes and in some cases return their blood glucose levels to normal. Also noted in the report was that only 14% of Americans even know prediabtes exist. So the big question is, are you at risk? Check out the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Risk Test  to see where you stand. Information taken from: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6211a6.htm?s_cid=mm6211a6_w      

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