Alert! Scientists Discover New Diabetes Risk Factor
If you’re worried about type 2 diabetes, chances are you’re keeping tabs on certain key health measurements.
Like your HbA1c and fasting blood sugar levels.
You may be paying close attention to your blood pressure as well, as hypertension is a known risk factor of type 2 diabetes.
But researchers recently identified a risk factor for type 2 diabetes that’s a much better predictor of type 2 diabetes than your blood pressure levels.
And since it’s also an indicator of heart health, this is one health measurement you’ll want to pay close attention to.
More than 30 million Americans having type 2 diabetes—and even more than that on the brink, with pre-diabetes.
Besides its own disease-specific complications, type 2 diabetes increases your risk of heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, and ultimately, an early death.
But some people are on the brink of this death sentence—and they don’t even realize it because they’re not keeping close enough tabs on the factors that increase your risk of the disease.
Making matters worse, there’s a key risk factor that most people don’t even know about.
Researchers examined data from more than 100,000 adults to determine how vascular function impacted their diabetes risk.
They found that compared to people with ideal vascular function (normal blood pressure and normal arterial stiffness), those with high BP and stiff arteries had the highest risk of diabetes.
In addition, those with stiff arteries—but normal blood pressure—also had an increased risk.
However, those with high BP—but normal arterial stiffness—had the lowest risk of diabetes.
In other words, whether you have high blood pressure or not, having stiff arteries will increase your risk of diabetes.
So yes, you want to keep your blood pressure under control since it’s one of the main risk factors for heart disease.
But if you’re concerned about diabetes risk—and really, everyone should be—then you’ll want to pay attention to the health of your arteries as well.
P.S. It turns out, there’s an underrated vitamin that can keep your arteries unclogged – leaving them flexible and clear. Click here to read about it.
