Diabetes Alert Day highlights risk

(WVUE/FOX) - On Diabetes Alert Day, the American Diabetes Association urges all Americans to take the diabetes risk test to determine if you're at risk for developing Type-2 diabetes.

An estimated 30 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes, but sometimes they're not diagnosed until as many as 10 years after the onset of the disease.

Another 86 million people have prediabetes, or blood sugar levels that are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.

Cleveland Clinic Endocrinologist Dr. Sangeeta Kashyap encourages people to decrease their risk by living a healthy and active lifestyle.

"When people start developing diabetes, the blood sugars start creeping up very slowly. Often people don't have any symptoms. They don't even realize that they're prediabetic or diabetic," Kashyap says.

In 2014, 37 percent of the people who took the ADA's diabetes risk test found out they were at risk for developing type-2 diabetes.

Studies have shown that type-2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by losing as little as 15 pounds, exercising 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, and eating a healthy diet.

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