Should You Be Tested? - Diabetes

Under Family Category: Family Health

Picture of Blood Test ImageContinued From The Test You Need Now - Diabetes

The only way to tell if you’re affected is to have a simple blood test to measure your glucose (sugar) level. With type 2 diabetes, the body doesn’t produce enough insulin-the hormone that transports glucose from the blood to the muscles-or the muscle cells are resistant to it. As a result, glucose is not moved effectively from the blood to where it is needed. Over time, high glucose levels can damage nerves and blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and other health problems. (Type 1 diabetes, which usually strikes in childhood, is an autoimmune disease in which the body stops making insulin.)

“A fasting blood-glucose test is inexpensive but invaluable,” says James Rosenzweig, M.D., director of the disease management program at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Old guidelines suggested that diabetes screening begin at age 45 because the disease was rare in younger people. In light of the increase in cases, however, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (doctors who specialize in hormonal disorders, including diabetes) recently lowered the recommended test age to 30 for people at high risk, which encompasses a surprisingly wide variety of people. (See “Are You at Risk?“)

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