How To Reduce Your Diabetes Risk
It’s National Diabetes Week… “I’m relatively healthy so why should I care about this?”
Most people know that Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition where the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t produce enough insulin, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels.
What most people don’t know is the catastrophic impact it can have on your heart.
Type 2 diabetes is linked to cardiovascular disease. Over time, high blood sugar can damage blood vessels and the nerves that control your heart, contributing to high blood pressure and increasing your likelihood of a heart attack or stroke. There are also significant links to chronic kidney disease.
Based on our data, we predict that almost 375,000 individuals aged between 35-64 have a high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the next 5 years^. If you’re aged 65 plus, the likelihood is much higher.
35 to 64 year olds are traditionally working, busy, not prioritising their health, with rising cardiometabolic risk. This cohort also have the greatest ability to lower their risk via diet and exercise changes.
Pre-Diabetes
On top of Type 2 diabetes, there’s pre-diabetes. Yes, it’s a thing.
People with pre-diabetes have a 70% likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes^^.
When you have pre-diabetes, you have a strong chance of being able to reverse your future diagnosis, but it is much harder to do after you are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Our data shows that 2 in every 5^ Australians are considered high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. These people often don’t realise they are high risk and the correlating damage they are doing to their cardiovascular and kidney health, not to mention other faculties and organs.
The reason this number is so high is because most people in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes are asymptomatic.
For some, the first sign may be a complication of diabetes such as a heart attack, vision problems or a wound that does not heal well.
The good news
There is good news, it’s never too late to start making changes that will reduce your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
We have compiled a list of some of the smallest and easiest things you can do that will have the biggest impact^^^.
Food switches:
- Try to choose whole grains over processed foods when possible, such as grainy bread instead of white.
- Snacking on fruits, vegetables and nuts.
- Cooking meals with as little processed foods, added sugar, salt or fat as possible.
- Reduce fried food. Choose baked or grilled options instead.
- Natural mineral water instead of soft drinks.
- Choose lean meats; chicken, turkey and lean beef, or vegetarian options.
Move your body more
- Try and walk 10 minutes or 1km each day.
- Park further away to get extra steps in.
- Take the stairs instead of a lift.
- Stand more instead of sitting (great if you can get a standing desk at work).
- Do squats, a wall-sit squat or walking while brushing your teeth.
The national guidelines for exercise is 30 minute of moderate intensity a day, which can be broken into 10-15 min sessions if needed. Moderate intensity physical activity is when your heart is beating a little bit faster and you are “lightly puffing” but can still hold a conversation.
It is ideal to test your diabetes risk score every 12 months so you can keep on top of your health.
You can find out your diabetes risk by doing a free 4 minute health check. Find a SiSU Health Station near you.
Data sources:
^Calculation based upon the percentage of 144,929 individuals aged 35-64 who scored an AUSDRISK of 12 or greater on SiSU Health Stations around Australia (1 January 2023 – 30 June 2024), extrapolated against this age cohort in the general population (ABS Census 2021)
^^According to an ADA expert panel, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3891203/
^^^These are general healthy eating and exercise guidelines. Anyone that has diabetes or pre-diabetes needs to be managed by their GP and to seek GP clearance before starting exercise, or see a nutritionist for personalised dietary advice.