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Published August 31, 2022
Published August 31, 2022 
Prediabetes and insulin resistance – you may have heard the terms used together. But what are they and do they mean the same thing?
“The two are very closely related,” says Sydney Blount, MD, Nebraska Medicine endocrinologist. “Insulin resistance can lead to prediabetes and most people with prediabetes have insulin resistance.”
Prediabetes means your blood sugar levels are higher than normal. But they have not reached levels high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. Prediabetes is caused by insulin resistance.
Prediabetes and diabetes occur when the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin to maintain normal blood glucose levels.
Insulin resistance occurs when cells in your body do not respond well to insulin. Insulin is the key that allows glucose to move from the blood into cells where it is used for energy. With insulin resistance, it takes more insulin to complete this process. To make up for insulin resistance, the pancreas secretes more insulin. This helps maintain normal blood glucose levels.
“You can have insulin resistance before you are diagnosed with prediabetes,” says Dr. Blount. “That’s because, initially, your body will try to make up for insulin resistance. It does this by making more insulin to maintain normal blood glucose levels. Over time, however, your pancreas may no longer be able to produce enough insulin to overcome insulin resistance. This can lead to higher-than-normal blood glucose levels. When this happens, you have prediabetes.”
Unfortunately, prediabetes has no symptoms. As a result, most people will not know they have it unless they are screened. Screening can entail:
Screening and frequency depend on your risk factors.
“There is no one blood test to diagnose insulin resistance,” says Dr. Blount. “Clinicians look at a number of factors.” These include:
“People with insulin resistance should be screened for prediabetes,” recommends Dr. Blount.
“There is no exact time frame for how long someone with insulin resistance will develop prediabetes. This is because there are so many individual factors that affect people.”
Insulin resistance left unmanaged can also lead to diabetes as well other metabolic complications. These include:
Certain risk factors increase your risk for insulin resistance and prediabetes. These should be discussed with your doctor so you can be screened and monitored properly. These include:
You can prevent and even reverse insulin resistance as well as prediabetes by adopting healthy lifestyle habits. The key is to start these changes early on. Once you have diabetes, it can be very difficult to reverse, notes Dr. Blount.
Diabetes medications are not prescribed until you have been diagnosed with diabetes. There are many classes of medications that work differently to achieve normal glucose levels. Some of these function by increasing your body’s sensitivity to insulin.
“Most people will see improvements within a few months if they stay committed to adopting healthier habits,” Dr. Blount says. “In fact, the Diabetes Prevention Program study showed that people who lost 7% of their body weight and exercised 150 minutes a week, reduced their diabetes risk by 58% over three years.”
If your condition progresses to diabetes, you may experience the following symptoms. You should see your doctor right away if you have these symptoms:
Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to a host of other disorders. These include:
“Remember, prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes are preventable,” says Dr. Blount. “If you have insulin resistance or prediabetes, start making changes to your diet and exercise routine. Even small changes can have a large impact in delaying or preventing the progression to diabetes.”
What is insulin resistance? If I produce insulin then why do I have to take diabetes medication?
Berberine supplements have attracted online attention lately, claiming the compound is a viable treatment for high cholesterol or high blood pressure and can reduce glucose levels for those with Type 2 diabetes. All of these claims seem like good news, right? But are they really?
Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in this country. As many as one in 11 people have diabetes. But what’s worse, approximately one-third of Americans have prediabetes and 90 percent of these people don’t know it.
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