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Does having prediabetes mean you eventually will develop diabetes?
It's true that a diagnosis of prediabetes - defined as having blood glucose levels higher than normal but not high enough to actually be diabetes - almost always predates an actual type 2 diabetes diagnosis. But some lifestyle changes by patients can delay or possibly prevent the disease from fully developing. An estimated 57 million people in the U.S. have prediabetes, which also is known as impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance. Although diabetes is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, so does prediabetes. Most people with prediabetes develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years, but there are steps you can take to lower your risk. Losing 5 percent to 7 percent of your body weight through dietary and exercise changes is among the biggest. A national study of prediabetics in a diabetes-prevention program found that those who exercised 30 minutes a day and lost 5 percent to 10 percent of their body weight had a 58 percent reduction in their risk of developing diabetes. Those results were better than for those who took medication to delay the development of diabetes.
Sources: American Diabetes Association, National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse