Prediabetes

Prediabetes means your blood sugar is above the normal range but still below the threshold for diabetes – an amber light, not a red one. Specifically, that means a fasting value between 100 and 125 mg/dl, an HbA1c between 5.7 and 6.4% or a value between 140 and 199 mg/dl two hours into an oral glucose tolerance test.

According to estimates, about one in five adults in Germany has prediabetes, the vast majority without knowing it – there are no symptoms. Without countermeasures, around 5 to 10% of those affected develop type 2 diabetes each year. But a similar number return to normal values every year – and healthy habits improve the odds considerably.

How well this works is unusually well documented. In the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study and the US Diabetes Prevention Program (published in 2001 and 2002), a programme of moderate weight loss (target: 5 to 7%), at least 150 minutes of exercise a week and more fibre cut the risk of diabetes by 58% in each case – in the US programme, among people over 60, by as much as 71%. Part of the protective effect lasted more than ten years in follow-up studies.

Translated into everyday life: losing 5% of your weight at 90 kg is just 4.5 kg. 150 minutes of exercise is five times 30 minutes of brisk walking. Fibre means wholegrains, pulses and vegetables. Add enough sleep, fewer sugary drinks and strength training, and it's not a programme but a family routine that benefits everyone.

If you want to know where you stand: blood sugar is part of the routine health check-up offered in Germany from age 35. The German Diabetes Risk Test from the German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE) estimates your risk in a few minutes using questions about things like age, waist circumference, exercise, diet and family history – no blood test needed.