Tips on how to test for diabetes

Only a blood glucose test can tell for sure if you have pre-diabetes. If you're trying to decide if you should get tested, here's some help.

If you're 45 or older, consider being tested. If you're 45 or older and overweight, it's strongly recommended that you be tested. If you're younger than 45 and overweight, consider being tested if you also have one or more of these risk factors.

•  You have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes.
• Your ancestry is African, Asian, Native American, Native Canadian, Pacific Island or Spanish.
• You're a mother who has had at least one baby weighing four kilograms or more at birth or you had gestational diabetes while pregnant.
• You've been told you have high blood pressure.
• You've been told your cholesterol levels aren't normal.
• You are fairly inactive or you exercise less than three times a week.

You may have no symptoms of diabetes for years. In some people, though, the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas just can't keep up. They become less effective and some of them die. Then your body just can't make enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels under control.

If you have pre-diabetes it is critical for you to take steps to avoid the full-blown condition.

In a major study of more than 3, 000 men and women in 27 medical centres, expert proved this. The participants’ ages ranged from 25 to 85, with an average of 51. All were obese. All had pre-diabetes. About 11 percent of those in the study who did nothing to change their lifestyles went on to develop diabetes in each year of the three-year study. That is, about a third got diabetes. Those who switched to healthier diets and lost weight, however, didn't suffer the same fate. Over three years, they started walking about 30 minutes a day, ate healthier meals and lost about seven kilograms each. Although some did develop diabetes, there was a 58 percent reduction in the overall incidence of the disease.

If you are set on a path toward diabetes, now is the time to plan and begin to make changes so that you don't wind up there. Exercise and change your diet to reduce the risk of developing this condition.

If you have tested positive for pre-diabetes, you can avoid it with the right approach to diet and exercise. These tips will help you to successfully gain control over your health.