Prediabetes and the Truth 

Traditional Blood Glucose Testing Cannot Prevent Diabetes 

How can you discover your condition and improve before it worsens to diabetes? 

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Relying on a generic blood glucose test alone is not enough. In the early phases of the disease, as the pancreas begins to produce less insulin and insulin sensitivity diminishes, the body strives to maintain blood glucose within the normal range. If the abnormal blood glucose level is detected only after insulin secretion has dropped by 50%, it may already be too late. While blood glucose testing is valuable for diagnosis, it cannot prevent diabetes.

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As the condition progresses, blood glucose may initially rise slightly while still remaining below the diabetic threshold, a stage commonly known as prediabetes. According to research findings, individuals with prediabetes face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, kidney disease and death that is 1.5 to 2 times higher than that of people with normal blood glucose. Meanwhile, younger prediabetes (20-39 years old) have a 50% chance – and are 22 times more at risk than older prediabetes (80 years old and above)¹ – of developing diabetes. It goes without saying that whether it evolves in diabetes or not, prediabetes can have a detrimental impact on the body. 

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Currently, the most reliable test for diagnosing prediabetes is the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT), which is superior to both the fasting blood glucose (FBG) and the Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) due to its significantly higher sensitivity² (the sensitivity of FBG and HbA1c is only 25% and 49% of OGTT). However, the testing process of OGTT is relatively more complicated. After giving a fasting blood sample, a patient must drink a 75-gram glucose solution within 5 minutes before waiting two hours to take another blood test.