Prediabetes the gateway to Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes doesn’t usually appear all of a sudden. Many people have a long, slow, invisible lead-in to it called prediabetes.
When you are diagnosed with Prediabetes it may seem a little scary, but it actually is an opportunity to modify your living style before there are any serious consequneces.
Prediabetes is a warning sign that Type 2 Diabetes that affects around 10% of the Indian adult population could be there in your life in the near future. Typically it means your blood sugar is higher than normal butnot high enough for a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis.
Prediabetes has no immediate serious symptoms. Luckily, it is a warning sign that tells you to start taking action.There is no need to panic, but you should start making real changes in your diet and lifestyle to prevent your blood sugar from going up and touching Type 2 Diabetes levels.
Deteriorating metabolic health (a combination of high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, and large waist size)and/or increasing body mass index (BMI) significantly raise the risk of transitioning from pre-diabetes to diabetes.
This transition itself is usually accompanied by further increase in BMI and deterioration in metabolic health.
These facts underline the importance of improving metabolic health and avoiding weight gain in prediabetes as simple but clear diabetes prevention objective and highlights the importance of lifestyle management.
Prediabetes is associated with the simultaneous presence of insulin resistance and β-cell dysfunction, abnormalities that start much before glucose changes are detectable
What is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin produced by the beta cells in the pancreas is released into the blood stream and travels throughout the body. Insulin helps body’s cells, particularly the muscle and fat cells to use glucose from the blood. Insulin does this by binding to insulin receptors on the surface of the cells and lets glucose enter the cells to be used by them for their energy needs.
Insulin resistance (IR) is a condition in which the body’s cells become resistant to the effects of insulin. That is, the normal response to a given amount of insulin is reduced. As a result, higher levels of insulin are needed in order for insulin to have its proper effects, and the pancreas compensates by trying to produce more insulin. The resistance of the cells continues to increase over time. When the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin, blood glucose levels begin to rise.
