Key signs of diabetes could present in a person long before the disease itself takes hold – with experts explaining what signs to look out for.
The common condition causes a person’s blood sugar to become too high – essentially an inability of the body to break down glucose levels. However, those at risk can also enter a pre-diabetic state, which is still a serious health condition. It means a person’s blood sugar levels are high, but not yet high enough to class the person as having diabetes.
Insulin, a hormone released by the pancreas to help regulate blood sugar naturally, can fail to do its job correctly in some – meaning a person can become insulin resistant. Insulin resistance can sometimes be controlled by decreasing the intake of processed sugar in a diet.
is when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin.
is the most common, and it’s when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells fail to react to insulin. This one is considered the easier to manage of the two.
Skin tags and a swollen neck can also be a symptom of insulin resistance
Former personal trainer and health advocate Rav Malik has shared key signs that your body develops several markers of insulin resistance before it turns diabetic – including skin changes, with the appearance of skin tags and pigmentation around the neck and knuckles.
Belly fat
feeling ‘hard’ and ‘dense’ to the touch instead of soft could also be a sign, as well as changes to feet. Rav explained: “If you touch your stomach fat and it’s hard and dense – you’re insulin resistant because the body is stuck in storage mode.
“Your feet will also start to swell because your body is retaining water and your blood pressure
is higher,’ he added. Your neck will get fatter and make it difficult for you to sleep, and you may even develop sleep apnea.” Flabby’ arms can also be a sign of insulin resistance.
Swollen feet could also be a sign of insulin resistance
Explaining the body’s complicated relationship with sugar, he explained: “Our body is so tightly regulated, so whenever we eat food it increases our blood sugar. For example, a high-sugar meal like cereal will increase a body’s insulin levels by a significant amount and it’ll take longer for it to come back down to it’s base amount.
“It makes you hungry, tired, and want to eat more – but here’s where the problem lies. If you’re constantly eating lots of sugar – your insulin doesn’t go down and your body starts to become resistant to it.”