Type 2 diabetes usually develops gradually over several years without those affected noticing it. Because there are no symptoms at first. Doctors refer to the condition in which blood sugar levels are already slightly elevated but do not yet meet the criteria for diabetes as prediabetes. This stage also often goes unnoticed. But even here there is a risk of permanent damage, for example to the kidneys, nerves and vessels.

People with prediabetes are at particularly high risk

• overweight,
• a lot of belly fat,
• fatty liver,
• cardiovascular diseases
• and women who have gained significant weight during menopause.

“Even if you have first-degree relatives who suffer from type 2 diabetes, you should be vigilant,” says Karsten Müssig, head physician at the Clinic for Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Diabetology at Franziskus Hospital Harderberg.

Do you belong to one of these risk groups?

Then “there is the possibility of checking your own risk completely independently of a doctor with established diabetes risk tests using questionnaires,” explains Müssig. Among other things, you will answer questions about your age, your weight, your eating habits and diabetes in your relatives.

You can also have three values ​​checked:

1. the fasting glucose
2. the two-hour value in the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
3. as well as HbA1c. This value provides information about the average blood sugar level over the last two to three months

Get prediabetes under control to halve the risk of heart attack

A study in which German researchers were also involved shows how important it is to recognize prediabetes early and to actively reduce slightly elevated blood sugar levels. She was born in December 2025 in the journal “The Lancet” published.

The analysis shows that if people with prediabetes bring their blood sugar back into the normal range through lifestyle changes, their risk of diabetes is halved

• Heart attack,
• heart failure,
• and an early death.

Blood sugar levels are apparently more important than losing weight

People with prediabetes are usually advised to lose weight, exercise more, and eat healthier. These lifestyle changes make sense. But data from more than 2,400 people with prediabetes now shows that one thing is even more important for heart health: normalizing blood sugar levels.

People who succeed in doing this have a significantly lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or being hospitalized for heart failure than those whose levels remain elevated – even if both groups lose weight to a similar extent.

Fasting blood glucose value of a maximum of 97 mg/dl

A permanently low heart risk – regardless of age and weight – was found in the test subjects with a fasting blood glucose level of 97 mg/dl or below. Patients can have their family doctor tested for this. Some pharmacies and drugstores also offer measuring stations for blood sugar levels, usually as a quick test.

The data comes from two large studies that researchers have now evaluated together. One study observed subjects over a period of 20 years, the other even over 30 years.

“Every year, five to ten percent of people with prediabetes develop type 2 diabetes,” explains Müssig. If you get prediabetes under control, you can delay or even prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. You also protect your heart.

With material from the German Center for Diabetes Research