Education programmes are an excellent way to understand how to prevent prediabetes and learn how to make the sustainable lifestyle changes necessary to get your health back on track.

Insulin resistance is when your body cannot respond to the amount of insulin that it is producing and is associated with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Prediabetes is identified as having higher than normal blood sugar levels, putting you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes; which is typically caused by a high BMI, lifestyle or family history.

Identifying the symptoms of prediabetes earlier on gives you a better chance of reversing the onset of type 2 diabetes.

The HbA1c test measures the proportion of haemoglobin molecules that have chemically bonded with the glucose in your blood over a period of three months.

HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin) is your average blood sugar (glucose) level from the last two to three months. Read about why HbA1c is important.

There are three suggested blood tests that can be used to detect and diagnose prediabetes. Learn more about the diagnosis thresholds of each.

Prediabetes describes when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

If you’ve been diagnosed with prediabetes you might be worried about getting life insurance. In most cases, you will still be able to find a provider of life insurance cover for prediabetes.

The NHS Healthier You Diabetes Prevention Programme was launched in 2016 and is available for people who have been identified as at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Lifestyle modifications such as following a healthy diet, being physically active and losing weight can all help reduce your blood glucose levels and acheive a non-prediabetic HbA1c, and lead to prediabetes remission.

Prediabetes remission means that the blood sugar levels of people with prediabetes have lowered to a normal, healthy level without taking diabetes medication.

Good diets for prediabetes are low carb, keto, Mediterranean, or low calorie. When you consume more calories than your body needs, they are stored as fat which is associated with insulin resistance.

Factors that increase the likelihood of prediabetes are the same as those increasing the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.

In most cases, people diagnosed with prediabetes do not need to take medication to treat the condition. Exercise, following a reduced carbohydrate or calorie diet can treat prediabetes.