Welcome to M.V Hospital for Diabetes, established by late Prof. M.Viswanathan, Doyen of Diabetology in India in 1954 as a general hospital. In 1971 it became a hospital exclusively for Diabetes care. It has, at present,100 beds for the treatment of diabetes and its complications.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Some Facts On Pre-diabetes

What is pre-diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be Type 2 diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.

People with pre-diabetes don’t often have symptoms.

Symptoms develop very gradually and people often don't recognize them. Some people have no symptoms at all. Look out for symptoms such as increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue and blurred vision. Sometimes, dark, thick patches may appear in areas of your body where there are skin creases or folds such as on the neck, armpits, elbows, knuckles and knees.

The most important warning sign that you are at risk for pre-diabetes is an expanding waistline- a waist circumference of more than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women.

 Another sign is being overweight with a BMI above 25.


Other risks for pre-diabetes -

• More than 45 years old.

• Inactive or sedentary lifestyle
• A family history of Type-2 diabetes
• Polycystic ovary syndrome or gestational diabetes during pregnancy, or having a baby with birth weight more than 4.1kg.
• High blood pressure.
• HDL ‘good’ cholesterol levels below 35 mg/dl or triglyceride level above 25 mg/dl.

• Too little or too much sleep.

Pre-diabetes does not always progress to diabetes -

Although pre-diabetes is a big risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, it need not always progress to Type-2 diabetes.

The International Diabetes Federation reports that ‘40-50 % of people with IGT will develop Type-2 diabetes (accompanied by increased risk of cardiovascular disease) within ten years’. But they believe that about 30 % of people with pre-diabetes will return to normal glucose tolerance if they take certain measures to slow down or prevent pre-diabetes progressing to diabetes.

Progression of pre-diabetes can be slowed down or prevented -

Research studies from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DPP) and from Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS), found that risk for diabetes could be delayed or prevented by 58 %by changing one’s lifestyle with a low fat, low calorie diet and moderate intensity physical activity of at least 150 minutes per week.

Lifestyle changes are very important –
* Begin the day with a nourishing breakfast. Have three meals a day.Add 2 – 3 snacks per day.
* Use whole grain and high fiber foods instead of processed foods.



* Eat nuts, seeds, lentils (dal), fish or poultry instead of red meat.
* Consume lots of freshfruits and vegetables such as greens, carrot and broccoli and less ofcommercial fruit juices.

* Choose low calorie foods instead ofhigh calorie ones. For example, choose low fat cheese instead of regular ones, or skimmed milk instead of whole milk.
* Lose excess weight.
* Be on the move.  Being active allows your body to use insulin and absorb glucose better and puts less stress on your insulin-making cells. Even brisk walking for half an hour every day
can reduce diabetes risk.
* Quit smoking and drinking alcohol. Those who smoke increase their diabetes risk by 50 % when compared with non-smokers.
* Keep track of blood glucose levels if you have pre-diabetes.

Pre-diabetes is the same as Impaired Glucose Tolerance or Impaired Fasting Glucose.

Doctors sometimes refer to high blood glucose levels as Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) or Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG), depending on what test was used to detect it.

Source: http://www.diabetes.org/

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