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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : July 15, 2014 3:57 PM IST
Calling people with moderately high blood sugar as 'pre-diabetic' is a drastically premature measure with no medical value and huge financial and social costs, a research shows. There is no benefit of giving diabetes treatment drugs to such people before they develop diabetes, particularly since many of them would not go on to develop diabetes anyway, researchers from University College London and Mayo Clinic argued. (Read: Is fasting good for prediabetic patients?)
'Pre-diabetes is an artificial category with virtually zero clinical relevance. There is no proven benefit of giving diabetes treatment drugs to people in this category,' said lead author John S. Yudkin, professor of Medicine at University College London. The researchers showed that treatments to reduce blood sugar only delayed the onset of type-2 diabetes by a few years and found no evidence of long-term health benefits. (Read: Do I need medicines for prediabetes?)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that use of 'pre-diabetes' is discouraged to avoid any stigma associated with the word diabetes and the fact that many people do not progress to diabetes as the term implies'. Healthy diet and physical activity remain the best ways to prevent and to tackle diabetes. 'Unlike drugs, they are associated with incredibly positive effects in other aspects of life,' added co-author Victor Montori, a professor at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the US. (Read: How can I prevent the progression of prediabetes?)
The study was published in the British Medical Journal.
What is prediabetes?
Prediabetes is a condition in which a person has high blood sugar levels but the level is not so high that he/she can be considered as diabetic. It just means that that the person is in a stage that can progress to diabetes if the blood sugar levels are not brought under control within time. A person is said to be prediabetic when the fasting plasma glucose is between 100-125 mg/dL and the oral glucose tolerance is between 140-199 mg/dL. Without intervention, a prediabetic person may develop type 2 diabetes withing 10 years or less depending on other factors like age, weight and lifestyle habits. The long-term damage to the heart and the circulatory system in people who are prediabetic starts at an early stage. But if appropriate measures are taken at the right time (ex: eating healthy foods, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight), the blood sugar level can be brought back to normal and lifestyle diseases can be prevented. Read more about Diagnosed with prediabetes? Here's what you should know
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With inputs from IANS
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