Detecting and Guarding Against Type 2 Diabetes
The same risk factors for type 2 diabetes apply whether you are slim or heavy: a family history of diabetes, increased age, being in a high-risk ethnic group, poor diet, and lack of physical activity. A woman’s risk increases if she’s had gestational diabetes, has heart or blood vessel disease or has polycystic ovary syndrome. Unfortunately, many health care providers think “diabetes” only when they see a patient who fits the typical stereotype-obese and inactive-and therefore often neglect to check people of normal weight for pre-diabetes and diabetes. Dozens of people I’ve spoken with who had some of the classical symptoms of diabetes, yet were not overweight, were not initially tested for high blood sugar. Read more