Researchers found that many people hospitalized for a heart attack have undiagnosed diabetes or prediabetes, a term coined to describe the millions of overweight and obese people who have blood sugar levels suggesting an elevated risk of full-blown diabetes.
Medications, exercise and diet changes, all of which can restore normal glucose levels, may reduce the risk of heart attacks in patients who have already had a heart attack.
Patients with prediabetes have been shown to be at higher risk of heart disease, and among people who have a heart attack, those who have diabetes are more likely to die.
The testing revealed that over two-thirds of heart attack patients in the study had blood sugar abnormalities.
The Lancet June 22, 2002;359:2127-2128, 2140-2144
This is a peer-reviewed published study that confirms the report I posted previously from the Cleveland Clinic Department of Preventive Cardiology Department, which found that fasting blood sugar levels above 90 are consistent with a 300 percent increase in risk for heart disease.
Most physicians and consumers are absolutely clueless how important blood sugar is for the development of chronic disease. Some physicians will ignore your fasting blood sugar if it is below 120. However, this is very dangerous. It completely misses a large number of people who will die from heart disease. We are not talking about small numbers of people here, folks. Heart disease is the number one cause of death.
The amazing fact about a fasting blood sugar level is that it is so inexpensive and easy to monitor. Along the same lines, fasting serum insulin levels is another potent predictor of cardiac risk.
You will need to ignore the reference ranges on the lab test, though, as they are hopelessly incorrect and merely an artifact of the "average" levels in the United States. They are not at all reflective of the healthy levels. Ideally, the level should be below 6, and below 4 would be even better. People with levels above 10 are in serious risk of future problems.
Related Articles:
'Pre-Diabetes' Tests Urged for Overweight Americans Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects If Your Fasting Blood Sugar is Above 90 You Are At Risk of Hear
'Pre-Diabetes' Tests Urged for Overweight Americans
Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects
If Your Fasting Blood Sugar is Above 90 You Are At Risk of Hear