November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and one form of the disease is prediabetes. Approximately 86 million people in the United States have prediabetes, and if not treated it can lead to type 2 diabetes. Amy Martin, Diabetes Educator for Washington County Hospital and Clinics, explains prediabetes is a condition where the blood sugar is higher than what is considered normal, but not high enough to be considered diabetic. A person whose pancreas is functioning normally should have a fasting blood sugar level of less than 100. Diabetes is diagnosed when that number is higher than 125, so prediabetes represents everyone in between. Martin adds, there’s usually no symptoms for prediabetes, so people need to go to the doctor and get blood work done regularly to test for it.

While prediabetes presents a growing problem in the country, Martin says it is treatable. It’s been proven that if people change their lifestyle after being diagnosed with prediabetes, they can reverse the elevated blood sugar and delay or even prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. The recommendation is for people to lose 5-10% of their body weight, and exercise 30 minutes five days a week. For more information about prediabetes and National Diabetes Awareness Month, listen to the In Touch with Southeast Iowa interview with Martin at KCIIRadio.com.