People with diabetes face roughly twice the risk of heart disease, and those with prediabetes aren’t far behind. Prediabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to qualify as type 2 diabetes, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s also far more common than many realize. An estimated 84 million American adults have prediabetes, and more than 80 percent don’t know it. Left unchecked, many will develop type 2 diabetes within three to five years.
Over time, elevated blood sugar damages blood vessels and the nerves that regulate the heart, raising the risk of heart attacks, heart failure, and other serious cardiovascular problems. The good news is that emerging research suggests lowering blood sugar in people with prediabetes may significantly reduce those risks, cutting the likelihood of major heart issues by nearly half.
The study, published in The Lancet, analyzed data from two landmark diabetes prevention trials. Both were long-term studies that followed participants with prediabetes for decades, with interventions focused on increasing exercise, improving diet, and supporting weight loss.
People who had achieved prediabetes remission had a 58 percent lower risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalization from heart failure. Additionally, their risk of heart attack, stroke, and other major cardiovascular events was reduced by 42 percent. Results were similar across both the Chinese and U.S. data.
“The study findings mean that prediabetes remission could establish itself—alongside lowering blood pressure, cutting cholesterol and stopping smoking—as a fourth major primary prevention tool that truly prevents heart attacks and deaths,” Andreas Birkenfeld, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
Overall, the research offers a promising new approach in managing prediabetes, as well as insights into how these conditions are treated by medical professionals in the future.
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