What is the best indicator of pre-diabetes?

Hi everyone,

Can anybody tell me what the best indicator of prediabetes is?

I have had the following tested:

Fasting blood glucose (102.6)
HbA1c (5.3%)
Fasting Insulin = 3mU/L

I always have high morning fbg. This is creeping up but the other 2 seem ok.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks

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If those were my values, and if those were correctly established, I wouldnā€™t consider myself prediabetic.
I have known of top pro athletes, who have a sky high FBG in the morning.
But Iā€™m an amateur and wouldnā€™t dare to give medical advice. As just a guy on the Internet, though, I can say that if you are preoccupied by that idea, you should try and adapt your lifestyle to get better values. At this stage, the world is still yours, really, there are endless possibilities to improve your blood glucose.

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@Basil_Dev Your levels look great through a traditional lens. Your fasting blood glucose should trigger the other tests you got and those look great. I am hoping we figure out non-fasting insulin levels as a predictor as well since it would be more accurate in seeing how your body responds to elevated sugar levels. If your body fat percentage is elevated or have a family history of diabetes / obesity then I think you are at risk despite traditional normal values. You might look at a glucose challenge test to see how your numbers look and strive to get your A1c down to 5. This does not fit to any current medical advice based on traditional approaches, but this whole forum is completely outside of the traditional norms of aging and age related disease are all an acceptable norms. Consider Metformin / Berberine - good luck!

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Although your FBG is in the pre-diabetic range, your HbA1c and fasting insulin are still in the normal range.

https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes/a1c/diagnosis

  • Diabetes is diagnosed at an A1C of greater than or equal to 6.5%**
Result A1C
Normal less than 5.7%
Prediabetes 5.7% to 6.4%
Diabetes 6.5% or higher
  • Diabetes is diagnosed at fasting blood sugar of greater than or equal to 126 mg/dl**
Result Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG)
Normal less than 100 mg/dl
Prediabetes 100 mg/dl to 125 mg/dl
Diabetes 126 mg/dl or higher

(end of quote)

In fact, depending on your labā€™s reference range, your fasting insulin may be on the low side of normal:

Reference Interval 2.6āˆ’24.9 Ī¼IU/mL

(the units are the same scale once you convert the powers of ten).

Eating a large dinner or late-night snack, particularly protein-heavy ones, can lead to a high FBG. Full digestion of a large amount of protein can take up to 24 hours, and it can potentially raise FBG. Try measuring FBG after a light dinner and no nighttime snack. Does it go down to normal levels?

Taking rapamycin or being on a keto diet can potentially lead to higher FBG, as both reduce insulin production (ā€œbenevolentā€ pseudo-diabetes), but there is no evidence this leads to health problems.

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@David , thank for your response. My post-prandials are usually very good and Iā€™ve done a sugar challenge before with no issues, but I may do one again.

I think I might try to get some Acarbose from my doctor for starchy meals. Most of the time I donā€™t eat a lot of carbs.

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@EnrQay , thanks for your response. Post-prandials are always excellent, itā€™s just my FBG that is high.

Iā€™m starting Rapamycin today, which is why I got the baseline tests.

If my A1c and Fasting insulin arenā€™t affected I wonā€™t be too worried, as high morning sugars are the norm for me.

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Metabolic syndrome, hba1c and the mirror (your BMI and waistline)

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Acarbose is a good idea. I like the comments @EnrQay said about later meals. Other things to consider would be other medications / supplements that can raise your sugars. Testosterone can help sugar levels where sermorelin and CJC/IPA can increase some. Good luck on Rapamycin - I have been impressed so far.

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C-peptide test

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I would recheck a different day.

your fasting glucose has more to do with what you ate the night before and how you slept.
additionally some people have a higher morning number due to high cortisol.
with fasting insulin that low, its fairly unlikely that you have an issue.

Alternatively, you could put on a glucose monitor for two weeks and see what happens when you eat.

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