Blood Sugar Fix

MUST-READ: Top experts reveal easy and natural ways to steady blood sugar and shed pounds. Plus, what you need to know about the newly discovered condition doctors are calling type 1.5, or 'double diabetes'

- LISA MAXBAUER

WHO KNEW?

40% OF PEOPLE WITH TYPE 1.5 DIABETES ARE INITIALLY INCORRECTLY DIAGNOSED AS HAVING TYPE 2.

-Peter Brukner, M.D.

With the rate of diabetes growing worldwide, it can feel like the condition is tough to avoid. But a large Japanese study reveals that easy-tomiss warning signs-including elevated blood sugar-can be detected 20 years before diagnosis. Another thing factoring into the confusion: Misdiagnoses mean many of us aren't getting the targeted help we need. That's the case with a new, tricky type of diabetes called type 1.5, which shares characteristics with types 1 and 2, earning it the nickname "double diabetes." Peter Brukner, M.D., chairperson of the Defeat Diabetes Program in Australia, contends, "Almost 30% to 40% of people with type 1.5 diabetes are initially incorrectly diagnosed as type 2." And John B. Buse, M.D., Ph.D., a top endocrinologist and the director of the University of North Carolina Diabetes Care Center, says, "The critical issue for people to recognize is that if they have 'type 2 diabetes' that does not seem to respond well to usual treatments, they may in fact have type 1.5." (See page 39 for more.)

What is clear: While different types of diabetes have different courses of treatment and management, experts agree on one thing: There's a universal, immediate need to improve blood-sugar regulation for people with or without diabetes. "Everyone benefits from steadying their levels," stresses Georgetown University-trained biochemist Jessie Inchauspé, author of The Glucose Goddess Method. And it's a change that can result in healthy weight loss.

Here, expert advice on how to reduce blood-sugar spikes to feel better, lower your diabetes risk (or repair the damage if you already have the condition), stop fueling fat gain and drop unwanted weight.