No tags yet.
About Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes
There are 96 million American adults who have prediabetes – that’s 1 in 3
adults! Of those 96 million, more than 8 in 10 of them don’t even know they have it. Without taking action, many people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years. With numbers like that, it’s important to learn about prediabetes and take action. You can take the online test to find out if you are at risk for prediabetes and type 23 diabetes.
What is Prediabetes and Diabetes?
Having prediabetes means your blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal—but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Prediabetes can often be reversed.
With type 2 diabetes, your body cannot properly use insulin (a hormone that helps glucose get into the cells of the body). You can get type 2 diabetes at any age, but you are at higher risk if you are older, overweight, have a family history of diabetes, are not physically active, or are a woman who had gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is a kind of diabetes that some women get when they are pregnant. Even if a woman’s blood sugar levels go down after her baby is born, she is at higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes later in life.
With type 1 diabetes, your body cannot make insulin, so you need to take insulin every day. Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2; approximately 5-10% of the people who have diabetes have type 1.
Are you at Risk for Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes?
If you have these risk factors, you may be at higher risk than others for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
You are overweight.
You are 45 years of age or older.
Your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes.
You are physically active fewer than 3 times per week.
You ever gave birth to a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds.
You ever had diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes).
Race and ethnicity also affect your risk. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and some Asian Americans are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes.
Following are the percentage of people in the United States with diagnosed diabetes from 2018 to 2019:
American Indians/Alaskan Natives 15.4%
Non-Hispanic Blacks – 12.1%
Hispanics – 11.8%
Non-Hispanic Asians – 9.5%
Non-Hispanic Whites – 7.4%
If you are at risk, talk to a health care professional about getting a blood test completed called Hemoglobin A1c. Follow up with a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, or join a National Diabetes Prevention Program.
The Serious Consequences of Diabetes
Diabetes is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the United States—and studies show that deaths related to diabetes may be under-reported! Today, 1 in 10 U.S. adults has diabetes, and if trends continue, 1 in 5 will have it by 2025.
An additional 96 million U.S. adults – 1 in 3 – have prediabetes, which means their blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. Without intervention, many people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years, which puts them at risk of serious health problems, including:
Heart attack
Stroke
Blindness
Kidney failure
Loss of toes, feet, or legs
What is cost of Diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes affects millions of individuals and their families, workplaces, and the U.S. health care system. In 2017, the total cost of care for people with diagnosed diabetes was $327 billion, up 33% over a 5-year period. About 1 in 4 health care dollars is spent on people with diagnosed diabetes. The majority of expenses are related to hospitalizations and medications used to treat complications of diabetes.
People diagnosed with diabetes incur on average $16,750 annually in medical expenses. That’s about 2.3 times the medical expenses of a person without diabetes. The need to prevent type 2 diabetes has never been greater.
You Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes—Get Started Today!
If you have prediabetes, Red Mountain Nutrition has a CDC-recognized lifestyle change program which is one of the most effective ways to prevent getting type 2 diabetes. It can help you lose weight, become more active, and prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Schedule a discovery call or join our program with classes starting as early as June 2023.
The CDC's PreventT2 curriculum is based on the original 2002 DPP trial and follow-up studies. It promotes modest weight loss (5-7%) and increased physical activity through a 12 month lifestyle change program and also reflects new literature on self-efficacy, physical activity, and diet. Participants meet in groups with a trained lifestyle coach to learn ways to incorporate healthier eating and moderate physical activity, as well as problem-solving, stress-reduction, and coping skills, into their daily lives. Groups meet for a year — weekly for the first 6 months, then once a month for the second 6 months to maintain the skills they have learned.