A third of Americans over 65 have diabetes, in one form or another.
And up to half that population has something the medical community calls “prediabetes.” The Centers for Disease Control estimate that eighty-eight million adults in America have prediabetes. That’s actually one in three in the general adult population.
If you have a parent or grandparent in that age group, it’s a very good idea to get your loved one screened for this particular condition, because there’s a one in two chance that he or she has it.
What is prediabetes?
Prediabetes is diagnosed when a blood test shows high amounts of glucose in the bloodstream, but those amounts are not high enough to diagnose full-blown diabetes. People with prediabetes are at immediate risk of developing diabetes which is a chronic condition lasting the rest of one’s life.
The good news, though, is that prediabetes does not have to progress to a life-threatening disease. A diagnosis of prediabetes can be a lifesaver because it gives the patient, your mother or father perhaps, an opportunity to take action and prevent the condition from worsening.
Preventive steps
These are the things that seniors can do to prevent prediabetes from becoming diabetes:
- Lose weight–If your loved one is overweight, losing weight will lower his or her risk of becoming diabetic. If your loved one is obese, the need to lose weight is even more critical. The Mayo Clinic reports that losing just seven percent of one’s body weight lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Get daily exercise–Prediabetics need to do low-to-moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes every week.
- Eat better foods–Those at risk for diabetes should eat whole grains, like whole-wheat bread and brown rice, rather than refined grains, like white bread and white rice. They should eat a lot of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables as well as vegetables that have been steamed, not fried. In addition, doctors recommend lean proteins such as one finds in fish and poultry. These protein sources should be steamed or cooked in a minimal amount of oil, not deep-fried or prepared with butter or cheese.
- Take prescribed medications–Doctors sometimes prescribe metformin to treat prediabetes.
- Control your cholesterol and blood pressure–High cholesterol and high blood pressure put patients at higher risk for type 2 diabetes to which people progress if they have untreated prediabetes.
Home care can help
Hiring home care professionals to look in on your senior for a few hours a week can really help. Home care workers can make sure that your senior has access to the right groceries. These professionals also help with healthy meal preparation and administer medications as needed.
In brief, a diagnosis of prediabetes is not a tragedy. It’s an opportunity to avoid developing a serious disease that shortens life and harms life quality. With lifestyle changes that involve weight management, better eating habits, and possibly preventive medication, many seniors can avoid progressing on to full-blown diabetes.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Care in Orinda, CA, call the caring staff at Aviva In-Home Care.
Call today: (415) 795-2203
Sources
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