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type II diabetes has now reached epidemic proportions according to the Center for disease Control and that means that there are literally million of people walking around today not just with type II diabetes but, more importantly, with as yet undiagnosed diabetes or diabetes which is in its early stages of development.

This early stage type II diabetes, during which blood sugar levels are elevated but not raised sufficiently to warrant a diagnosis of diabetes, is known as pre-diabetes and, although it may not appear to be of serious concern, studies show that, even at this early stage, permanent long-term damage is being done, especially to the circulatory system and to the heart. Pre-diabetes currently affects over 50 million Americans.

Because pre-diabetes does not present any symptoms, the only way to tell whether or not you are suffering from it is to ask your doctor to test for the presence of the disease. now, since we cant start testing the whole population this leads to the question of just who is most likely to be at risk from pre-diabetes. Well, in simple terms, if you are over the age of 45 and are overweight (and this mean not just grossly overweight but even modestly overweight) then you should consider asking to be tested. If you are under the age of 45 and are again overweight then testing may also be advisable but, in this case, you should discuss this with your doctor and be guided by him.

Testing is a fairly simple process using one of two standard tests a fasting plasma glucose test or an oral glucose tolerance test. These tests will indicate whether your blood glucose levels are normal, pre-diabetic or diabetic.

The good news is that, if your test reveals that you are pre-diabetic then bringing your blood glucose levels back down to normal and returning your body to a good state of health and forestalling the onset of diabetes is generally quite simple.

Although medication can be used to correct pre-diabetes, tests have shown that a simple program of diet and exercise, combined if necessary with a relatively modest weight loss, can often return blood glucose levels to normal quite quickly and, as long as you maintain a healthy diet and an exercise program, there is no reason at all why your blood glucose level should not remain at normal levels for a considerable period of time. This does not of course mean that you will eliminate the risk of developing type II diabetes altogether, but it does mean that you can delay its onset and prevent early and irreparable damage to your circulatory system and heart.

When we talk about a program of weight loss and exercise here we are not talking about anything too drastic and a reduction in weight of as little as 5% to 10% and a light exercise program of say 30 minutes of brisk walking 5 times a week can be sufficient.

Pre-diabetes is a serious problem which is both easy to detect and simple to treat. All that we are really lacking at the moment is sufficient publicly available pre-diabetic information.

For more information on diabetes treatment try visiting http://diabetes.personal-health-guide.com a website that specializes in providing information on diabetes prevention, diabetes type 1 and type 2 and some lists of diabetes diet tips