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What Is Chemical Diabetes?

Chemical diabetes, or pre-diabetes, is the stage before a person contracts diabetes. Finding out that you have chemical diabetes is good, because that diagnosis provides a strong chance of treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes.

  1. Chemical Diabetes

    • Chemical diabetes, or pre-diabetes, was named in 2003. It means having a higher than normal blood-glucose level, but not to the level where diabetes is diagnosed.

    Determining Factors

    • Chemical diabetes is diagnosed when your fasting blood sugar is between 100 and 126 milligrams/deciliters (mg/dl), and your blood sugar level two hours after eating carbohydrates is between 140 and 199 mg/dl. Normal blood-sugar levels should be 70 to 99 mg/dl, and less than 140 mg/dl after eating carbs.

    Risks

    • Out of the estimated 20 million people who are diagnosed with chemical diabetes, about 50 percent of them will contract type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes can lead to heart attack and stroke, hypertension, coronary artery disease, impotence, blindness, kidney failure and amputations.

    Those At Risk

    • People who might have chemical diabetes usually are overweight or have a family history of diabetes, have hyperglycemia from steroid use, have hypertension, have an abnormal lipid profile, or have or have had gestational diabetes.

    Prevention

    • People diagnosed with chemical diabetes should get a blood-sugar meter and test regularly, especially two hours after eating carbohydrates, and avoid foods that spike their blood sugar. The best ways to treat chemical diabetes are to exercise, to eat healthy, and to educate yourself on the proper diet.

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