Grain Valley News
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
  • News
  • Community
    • Community Guide
    • First Fridays Puzzle Race
    • Best of Grain Valley
    • Events Calendar
    • Job Board
    • 2025 Garage Sale Directory
    • Voter Resources
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member

​news

Pre-diabetes: what is it and what can be done

5/6/2021

 
Picture
by Sean M. Crosetti, MBA, PharmD, Crosetti Health & Wellness
 
     Pre-diabetes is the bodies inability to either produce sufficient amounts of insulin or the body becomes resistant over time to the insulin it does produce. 
     As of the latest report from 2018, 88 million (1 in 3) people have pre-diabetes.  “Wow that is quite a few people, but I thought you were either diabetic or you were not.”  I have heard that several times over the past few months.  The thing is, just like many other diseases (high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, glaucoma, obesity, etc.) this is a gradual migration that, if identified and corrected early, it will not only be easier to treat, but the detrimental side effects of pre-diabetes can also be stopped or even possibly reversed. 
    If pre-diabetes is not corrected it can lead to kidney damage, unrecognized heart attacks, and of course full-blown diabetes. 
     So how do you know if you have pre-diabetes?
     There is only one potential symptom of pre-diabetes, darkening of the skin on certain parts of the body:
     Neck
     Armpits
     Elbows
     Knees
     Knuckles
 
     The best way to decide when you should talk to your health care provider is to count the number of risk factors you have (more than 2 then schedule a visit for an A1c test):
 
     Weight. Being overweight is a primary risk factor for pre-diabetes.
     Waist size. The risk diabetes goes up for men with waists larger than 40 inches and for women with waists larger than 35 inches.
     Diet.  A diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and olive oil is associated with a lower risk of pre-diabetes.
     Inactivity. The less active you are, the greater your risk of pre-diabetes.
     Age. Although diabetes can develop at any age, the risk of pre-diabetes increases after age 45.
     Family history. Your risk of pre-diabetes increases if you have a parent or sibling with type 2 diabetes.
     Race or ethnicity. Although it is unclear why, people of Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Asian American decent are more likely to develop pre-diabetes.
     Gestational diabetes. If you had diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes), you and your child are at higher risk of developing pre-diabetes.
     Polycystic ovary syndrome. Women with this common condition have a higher risk of pre-diabetes.
     Sleep. People with obstructive sleep have an increased risk of insulin resistance.
     Tobacco smoke. Smoking may increase insulin resistance.
     When you do get an A1c test (per your request or normal screening) please look at the chart below to see where your results pertaining to diabetes with your A1c score fit:
Below 5.7                         Normal
Between 5.7 and 6.4      Pre-Diabetes
6.5 or above                    Diabetes
 
     Now that you know you have pre-diabetes (or diabetes), what can be done with it?  Have a discussion with your care provider to see his/her viable options.
     Healthy lifestyle choices can provide non-medication based correction of your blood sugar levels to return them to the normal levels. Try to:
    Eat healthy foods (reduce processed foods, simple sugars, increase vegetables and fruits, etc.)
     Get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity a week, or about 30 minutes on most days of the week
     Lose excess weight
     Control your blood pressure and  
     cholesterol
     Don't smoke
     The main idea behind this is the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” whereby, identifying this issue early and making some simple, yet life challenging, choices, you will not have to deal with all the complications and hardships facing the person with full-blown diabetes for the rest of your life.
 
     Please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] with any questions about this article or if you would like me to write about a topic of your interest.
 
Picture

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    5 Questions
    Arts
    Beacon: Missouri
    Best Of Grain Valley
    Burton Kelso
    Business
    Cathy Allie
    Celebrations & Transitions
    Census
    City Of Grain Valley
    Civics 101
    Columnists
    Community Profile
    Covid-19
    Covid19
    Downtown Grain Valley
    Dr. Bug
    Economic-development
    Education
    Elections
    Financial-health
    Fitness
    Food Inspections
    Good News
    Good-news
    Grain-valley-assistance-council
    Grain Valley Fair
    Grain Valley Historical Society
    Grain-valley-partnership
    Grain Valley Schools
    Health And Fitness
    Health-and-fitness
    Home And Garden
    Jackson County
    Kansas City Royals
    Kindness Awards
    Ld
    Letters
    Local News
    Looking Back
    Lorne-meinershagen
    Missouri House Of Representatives
    Missouri Independent
    Missouri Senate
    Musings From The Middle
    Neighborhood View
    On-the-job
    Pets
    Police Blotter
    Public Notice
    Quick-news
    Rdn
    Recreation
    Sally-whitaker
    Scene In Grain Valley
    Seniors
    Senior-send-off
    Sports
    State Of Missouri
    Sunshine Week
    Technology
    The Beacon
    Tracey-shaffer
    Transportation
    University Of Missouri Extension
    Waynes-world

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

Grain Valley News

This work by Grain Valley News is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Contact Us

PO Box 2972
​Grain Valley MO 64029

Privacy Policy
​
(c) 2025 Grain Valley News
Picture
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
  • News
  • Community
    • Community Guide
    • First Fridays Puzzle Race
    • Best of Grain Valley
    • Events Calendar
    • Job Board
    • 2025 Garage Sale Directory
    • Voter Resources
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member