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How Much Do You Know About Prediabetes?

Test your knowledge on the increasingly common condition

Christina Ianzito and Michelle Crouch,

Updated December 21, 2023

AARP

En español

Published November 13, 2012

/ Updated December 21, 2023

8 Questions

86a95914-a845-4d34-afbd-735005c97963

How Much Do You Know About Prediabetes?

[ {
 "question" : "What percent of American adults have prediabetes?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "10",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "16",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "27",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "38",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "In the U.S., nearly 98 million people — about 38 percent of U.S. adults — have prediabetes, according to the National Diabetes Statistics Report. When it comes to older adults, 27.2 million people 65 or older have prediabetes. Among those with prediabetes, more than 8 in 10 aren’t aware of their condition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What is prediabetes?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Blood glucose levels are normal, but you are obese",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to indicate type 2 diabetes",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Glucose levels are as high as someone with type 2 diabetes, but you don’t yet have serious symptoms",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "None of the above",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Prediabetes is diagnosed when glucose levels are high but not as high as they are with diabetes.\n&nbsp;\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What is glucose, and what does it do in the body?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "A form of sugar that your body uses for energy",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "A type of sugar that aids digestion",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Excess sugar in the body that the liver works to eliminate",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "None of the above",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Glucose provides energy to cells in the body, with the help of the hormone insulin. If you have prediabetes or diabetes, it means your body isn't processing the glucose the way it should, and there's too much of it in the bloodstream.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What part of the body produces insulin?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Liver",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Gallbladder",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Pancreas",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Spleen",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The pancreas plays a crucial role in the body, secreting insulin to regulate blood sugar as needed. When there's not enough insulin produced, sugar builds and prediabetes or diabetes can result.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What increases your risk of developing prediabetes?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Being overweight",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Being 45 or older",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Having a parent, brother or sister with type 2 diabetes",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "All of the above",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "A few other factors can increase your risk of developing prediabetes, according to the CDC. They include not getting enough physical activity and having had diabetes during pregnancy (this is called gestational diabetes). Individuals who are African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native are also at higher risk for developing prediabetes.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What is the best way to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, if you have prediabetes?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Lose 5 to 7 percent of your body weight and exercise",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Eat less sugar",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Get periodic insulin injections",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Eat well and drink plenty of water",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "The CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program found that even modest weight loss and moderate exercise five times a week can lower someone’s risk of developing diabetes by up to 58 percent. That rises to 71 percent if you’re over 60.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What other lifestyle change appears to lower your risk of prediabetes and diabetes type 2?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Eating a small amount of meat every day",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Eating breakfast every day",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Sleeping for fewer hours a night",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "All of the above",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "A 2019 review study in the Journal of Nutrition found that just one day a week of skipping breakfast was associated with a 6 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and the risk rose with each additional day that breakfast was skipped per week.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "What are symptoms of diabetes that some people with prediabetes can start to experience?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Unusual thirst",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Fatigue",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Tingling or numbness in hands or feet",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "All of the above",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Although prediabetes often has no symptoms — the most common is darkening of the skin — people who have been diagnosed with prediabetes need to be on the lookout for symptoms of diabetes, including thirst, fatigue, tingling or numbness in the hands or feet, as well as frequent urination and infections.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Christina Ianzito is the travel and books editor for aarp.org and AARP The Magazine, and also edits and writes health, entertainment and other stories for aarp.org. She received a 2020 Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing.

Michelle Crouch is a contributing writer who has covered health and personal finance for some of the nation’s top consumer publications. Her work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Real Simple, Prevention, The Washington Post and The New York Times.