Don’t let the ‘dry’ title fool you… I think this is an exciting and juicy topic! 😀
A science paper recently published states what many of us have known for years, the blood sugar levels used to diagnose diabetes needs to change.
This is important for a couple of reasons.
- The Blood Sugar levels used to diagnose diabetes are too high. Damage begins to accrue long before a person reaches diabetic blood sugar levels. Lowering diagnostic thresholds could prevent a lot of pain and suffering.
- By lowering the diagnostic blood sugar levels for a diabetes diagnosis, this will (or should) also cause a lowering of blood sugar targets given to diabetics.
After all, why would the Medical Industry and the American Diabetes Association continue to promote blood sugar levels that cause harm?
I’ll jump off my soapbox for now… on to the study!
“The time is now for new, lower diabetes diagnostic thresholds”
This post will take a look at the highlights, but I urge you all to read the entire study… it’s good stuff!
And remember to check out the references for additional reading, and this post has MANY!
The study’s opening paragraph:
“Current thresholds for diagnosing diabetes are outdated and do not represent advancements in disease understanding or ability to impact course. Today, evidence supports intervening earlier along the disease continuum to mitigate transition to frank disease and delay/reduce adverse clinical outcomes.
We believe it is time for lower diabetes diagnostic criteria.”
Agreed!
“The fact that the prediabetic condition itself is associated with micro- and macrovascular complications is almost as important as the number who will progress to overt diabetes [2., 3., 4.].”
Boom! More truth.
There are numerous studies showing that EVEN at higher levels of ‘normal’ blood sugar ranges, diabetes complications begin to occur.
It is even more well known that damage to cells and organs occur at prediabetic levels of blood sugar levels….
That’s why I decided early that my blood sugar goals would be to have TRULY normal blood sugars. I chose NOT to use the ADA’s and the Medical Industry’s ‘diabetic’ blood sugar targets.
Following the ADA’s ‘targets’ cause much pain and suffering. I laid out my case for this YEARS ago in this post, “My Blood Sugar Targets and Why“.
Prediabetes?
Next quote:
“We propose that the time is right to shift the paradigm to include all non-normal glucose and glucose tolerance with the disease of diabetes, removing the term prediabetes from the current lexicon, thus diagnosing diabetes using current glycemic thresholds for prediabetes (Figure 1) [7].”
“…removing the term prediabetes…”
Woo HOO … I love it!! And I agree!
This is VERY IMPORTANT!! I’ll tell you why.
- No longer will people be lead to believe that their prediabetic blood sugar levels are ‘ok’.
- No longer should a doctor or diabetes educator tell a diabetic that non-normal blood sugars are ‘just fine’.
As noted earlier, this change could save a lot of people from the pain and suffering caused by elevated blood sugars.
My friend Karen Burdick wrote this post on the subject, “Diabetes vs Prediabetes“, if you would like a different perspective.
Graphic of Proposed Changes
On the left are the current diabetic, diagnostic blood sugar thresholds and on the right, the proposed changes.
The graphic above nails it!
But there’s more…
“We believe an artificial distinction exists between prediabetes and diabetes. The pathophysiology of prediabetes includes insulin resistance, impaired incretin action, insulin hypersecretion, increased lipolysis, and ectopic lipid storage, all of which damage the β-cell and are also central features of overt diabetes [6,8,9].
Indeed, increased fasting insulin secretion, insulin resistance, and β-cell damage and dysfunction occur on a continuum and are largely dysfunctional prior to formal diabetes diagnosis [3].
Damage to cells and tissues is set in motion early, even with minimal abnormal glycemic patterns, due to activation of pathways that can effect toxic consequences: polyol, hexosamine, protein kinase C (PKC), and advanced glycation end-product [3]. “
I am not joking when I say that I get goosebumps reading this!
There are more and more ‘low carb’ docs and diabetes activists like me who ‘get it’ and have been promoting ‘truly normal blood sugars’.
Dr. Bernstein has been promoting this very thing … for decades, but it is awesome to see this is getting the additional attention it deserves!
Just one example of the damage ‘prediabetic’ levels of blood sugar can casue…
“…it is now known that diabetic retinopathy occurs in 8–12% patients with prediabetes, with some estimates as high as 24%, and that retinopathy begins earlier than previously thought…”
So tell me… please.
Why in the hell does the Medical Industry and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) promote elevated blood sugar targets … that cause CELL and ORGAN DAMAGE???
The important point for all to understand, is that they do. The medical industry and the ADA promote blood sugar targets that harm diabetics!!
That’s why my goal from almost day 1 after my diagnosis … has been truly normal, non-diabetic blood sugar levels.
“… we believe interventions aimed at patients prior to frank diabetes have the potential to both decrease the risk of progression to diabetes, as well as decrease micro- and macrovascular complications [2,4,7,9,12].”
and then this quote…
Earlier therapeutic interventions could potentially prevent progression of complications or even cause their resolution.
The two statements above give us a possible hint as to why the ADA and the Medical Industry do not promote truly normal blood sugars…
Promoting truly normal blood sugars for diabetics AND prediabetics, would likely reduce the progression of the disease.
The reduction of the disease progression would reduce the need for the ADA, Medical Industry services and Big Pharma drugs.
Translation: Setting proper blood sugar targets to truly normal ranges will reduce revenues for the ADA, Big Food, Big Pharma and the Medical Industry.
Vindication!
This paper is vindication for all of us who fight to make ‘truly normal blood sugars’ the official goal for all diabetics (and prediabetics).
Many thanks to the authors of this study, Stanley Schwartz, Amy Rachfal and Barbara Corkey.
Hopefully this paper will apply pressure to the American DIabetes Association and the Medical Industry to lower their diagnostic thresholds to the standards suggested in this post… I’m not holding my breath and neither should you!!
There is no better time to obtain and maintain truly normal blood sugars! I wrote an ebook on “How to Reduce Blood Sugar, The Warrior Way” … check it out and let’s get busy…today!!
Lower Your Blood Sugar Naturally
If your blood sugars are elevated and you cannot achieve truly normal blood sugars with diet alone…
BUY MY BOOK! How to Reduce Blood Sugars.
