Dr. McLaughlin explains how a woman can know if she is at risk for diabetes.
Dr. McLaughlin:
One of the most important things you can determine is whether or not you have insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome. An easy marker for that is determining your triglyceride level and your HDL cholesterol level. So for example, a ratio of triglyceride to HDL cholesterol of 3 or greater is indicative of insulin resistance, and that’s an easy thing for your doctor to measure in the clinic.
There are also other indicators including elevations in your blood sugar, abnormal fasting glucose in the pre-diabetic range, and increased body mass index or obesity. All of these things would imply that you need to be more careful in screening for diabetes and for cardiovascular disease.
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