Heart and Diabetes
If Your Fasting Blood Sugar is Above 90 You Are At
Risk of Heart Disease
E-mail to a friend
People with a fasting blood sugar level of 100-125
mg/dl had an adjusted nearly 300% increase higher risk
of having coronary heart disease than people with a
level below 79 mg/dl. This information was compiled
from a cross-sectional study of nearly 2500 people.
A fasting blood sugar level of more than 125 mg/dl is
the current threshold for identifying patients with
diabetes. But the new finding suggests that patients
with high levels of blood sugar in the nondiabetic
range face a substantial risk of coronary heart
disease.
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation now uses a fasting
blood sugar of 90 mg/dl or higher as a biomarker of
coronary heart disease risk. The Cleveland Clinic gets
very concerned when they someone with a fasting blood
sugar above 90 mg/dl. They try to intervene with
exercise, diet and weight control.
The previous cutoff of 125 mg/dl was based on the
incidence of diabetic retionopathy, but physicians now
increasingly focus on the diabetes-related risk of
coronary heart disease. As evidence continues to grow
in this area it is likely the definition of diabetes
will change.
Annual Meeting American College of Cardiology reported
by Family Practice News May 1, 2002 page 4a
American Journal Cardiology March 2002(1);89(5):596-9
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DR. MERCOLA’S COMMENT: E-mail to a friend
Normal fasting blood glucose is below 100 mg/dl. A
person with pre-diabetes has a fasting blood glucose
level between 110 and 125. If the level rises to 126
or above, a person has full-blown diabetes.
My question is why would anyone wait for their blood
sugar to get to 100 before they were concerned?
I have checked over 10,000 blood tests on my patients
and can tell you quite confidently that the fasting
blood sugar should be below 100.
Previously I believed the fasting blood sugar should
be 87. It now seems that the numbers should be closer
to 80. My definition of pre-diabetes is when that
number rises above 100.
Pre-diabetes is far easier to turn around in the
earlier stages than the later stages.
It is important to recognize that the new
recommendations are for everyone over 44 years of age
to have a fasting blood sugar as a screen. If you are
overweight you should also have it every year.
Amazingly, 25% of obese children under ten had either
blatant or pre-adult onset type 2 diabetes. One
quarter of the obese children under 10 in the US may
have diabetes.
So, it is never to early to screen for diabetes in
obese individuals.
The top medical journal, NEJM in May 2001 proclaimed
that in fact one can "cure" type two diabetes with
diet and exercise.
The dietary modifications were able to reduce the rate
of diabetes by nearly 60% and they did that without
even understanding some of the most basic foundational
truths of food choices. These investigators were
absolutely clueless with respect to the influence of
grain and sugar restriction on insulin optimization.
So if the traditionally recommended low-fat diet can
reduce diabetes by 60%, if one uses the modified food
choice program you can reduce type two diabetes by
well over 95%.
Exercise is unquestionably also a big key here.
Considering that there are 15 million diabetics in the
US and the epidemic is continuing to increase in the
US and worldwide (affected about 6 percent of persons
in developed countries in 1995), this is important
information.
Folks, believe me, you do not want to play around with
diabetes. It is a devastating illness and will
gradually and slowly suck the life out of you and
contribute to a life full of miserable health
complications.
It is also one of the fastest ways to accelerate the