SHARES
Malaysia has been long known as the obesity capital of South East Asia and ranks 6th in Asia for the disease. A recent study found that Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia has the highest numbers for overweight, obese and abdominal obese people in the country. This study has brought up serious concern for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases to Malaysians. In fact, only one in eight people know they have pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is the condition where people have higher blood sugar level than normal but still do not qualify to be diagnosed as diabetes. Besides, there are usually no clear symptoms for people who have pre-diabetes.
How can Diabetes be detected? What are the different tests available?
In order to detect if a person is diabetic, the ability of his body to use up the sugar (glucose) is measured. This is done using the following tests:
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Fasting blood sugar test
A sample of blood is collected after at least 8 hours of fasting (usually overnight). The normal fasting blood sugar level is less than 100mg/dL, a test result showing values between 100mg/dL to 125mg/dL would be pre-diabetes and higher than this is diagnosed as diabetes.
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Oral glucose tolerance test
This test also requires you to fast overnight and a blood sample is collected in the morning. This is called fasting blood glucose or pre-prandial glucose. After the blood sample is taken, you will be asked to drink a sweet beverage and the blood sugar levels are tested regularly within two hours. This is called Post Prandial Glucose. If the reading shows blood sugar level is less than 140mg/dL, it is normal but in the case the reading shows more than 200mg/dL, you are diagnosed to be diabetic. A value between 140 to 199mg/dL is categorized as pre-diabetic.
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Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test
This blood test will show your average blood sugar level for the past 2-3 months. This test determines your blood sugar level with the percentage of blood sugar attached to hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cell. The higher your blood sugar levels, the more hemoglobin you will have with attached sugar. Diabetes is diagnosed at A1C level of 6.5% or greater on two separate tests. A value between 5.7% to 6.4% of A1C indicates that you have pre-diabetes and you are normal if your test results are less than this value mentioned.
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The best part about this test is that you would not need to fast or drink anything but should if your A1C test results are not consistent, it might due to certain conditions that you have, like: pregnant or hemoglobin variant. Under this circumstance, the doctor would run a different test on you.
What are the other forms of tests by which you can detect diabetes?
Urine test
Kidneys can be damaged by high blood glucose after a long time and it eventually will fail if no precaution has been taken. A urine test will indicate a leakage of protein in kidney if microalbumin is found in your urine. This could be an early sign of damage to the kidney by high blood sugar or high blood pressure. It is important to have your urine test done annually.
Visual exam
Optometrists don’t just tell you if you have “power” and need glasses! Diabetes is one of the common causes of vision impairment and blindness. Visit your optometrist once a year to check your vision.
So, how often do you do your blood test to check if you are diabetic? Don’t wait until it’s too late, think about yourself and also your loved ones. Check out your health status by grabbing our limited Health Screening Packages!
by Jens Behrensen
German fitness addict sharing my experience and trying to bring a healthier lifestyle to people. View all articles by Jens Behrensen.
