Insulin Resistance and Prediabetes
Diabetes is a complex disease that impacts your body’s ability to effectively use blood sugar. As blood sugar levels remain elevated damage starts occurring in our body, specifically impacting our eyes, kidneys, heart, and nerves. In fact diabetes is a significant driver of heart disease not just in Canada, but the rest of the world. Diabetes not only impacts the health of our body, but hits the pocket books hard. Diabetes Canada estimates that the out of pocket costs for adults in Alberta can be as high as $5,641 annually.
But what if there was a way to know if you were at risk of diabetes? In fact there is. Prediabetes is a warning period that can be identified on labs, letting you know that you are at risk of developing type II diabetes. There are several labs that can be done to identify this warning period, such as a fasting blood sugar or A1C (which does not require fasting).
Prediabetes is defined as the following:
Fasting blood sugar: 6.1- 6.9 mmol/L
A1c: 6.0-6.4%
Prediabetes is quite prevalent in Canada, around 1 in 3 Canadians are living with diabetes or prediabetes. In 2022, an estimated 667,000 people had prediabetes in Alberta.
So diabetes impacts health, but not prediabetes, right?
Not exactly. When compared to people without prediabetes, those living with prediabetes had more risk factors for cardiovascular disease and had more cardiovascular events (e.g., heart attacks).
What causes prediabetes?
Our pancreas makes a hormone called insulin which signals tissue, like muscle, to grab sugar that is floating around our blood. In prediabetes and type II diabetes, our body becomes sluggish to respond to insulin despite increasing blood sugar levels. This is called insulin resistance.
Can functional medicine help improve insulin resistance and prediabetes?
Yes, functional medicine can improve your body’s ability to respond to insulin and reduce your risk of developing type II diabetes. Functional medicine can help reverse insulin resistance using evidence based diet and lifestyle interventions. In fact the use of diet and lifestyle medicine provides the strongest evidence of effectiveness to reducing prediabetes and insulin resistance.
If you are looking for a functional medicine approach to reversing prediabetes and insulin resistance schedule an appointment and learn how you can take control of your metabolism.
Dr. Brandon Testa, ND has received advanced training from the Institute of Functional Medicine on metabolic conditions and offers advanced lab testing to help you better understand your metabolic health. He will work with you to provide a personalized treatment plan that can include nutritional recommendations, meal planning, physical activity guidance, and advice on supplemental and herbal treatments.