Type 2 diabetes begins to develop as long as 13 years before diagnosis, a study shows. Scientists who tracked more than 6,500 British civil servants who didn’t have diabetes, beginning in the early 1990s, found that the 505 who got type 2 went through distinct stages: early signs of insulin resistance and higher blood glucose levels; a long, stable period of increasing resistance to insulin, compensated for by greater insulin production; and finally a rapid decline in the three to six years preceding diagnosis, as insulin-producing beta cells fail and blood glucose skyrockets. People with pre-diabetes are already in this rapid phase of developing diabetes; the study authors suggest that measures to stave off the disease, including exercising more and eating healthier foods, might be more effective before this unstable period. The hope is that these findings will lead to ways to identify people at risk for diabetes sooner, providing a bigger head start on prevention.
Source: The Lancet, published online June 8, 2009