Today marks the American Diabetes Association’s annual effort to get everyone to test whether they’re at risk for diabetes. 

You know the numbers, or maybe you don’t. They’ve escalated tremendously in just a year! 

26 million people have diabetes, among them 23 million have type 2. 25-35% of those people don’t know they have diabetes. And almost a whopping 79 million people havepre-diabetes!  

Since doctors don’t prescribe medication or much in the way of lifestyle change for pre-diabetes, if you have it chances are high within 5 to 10 years you’ll have type 2 diabetes. So knowing if you have pre-diabetes is just as important as knowing if you have diabetes. 

Risk factors for pre-diabetes/type 2 diabetes:  

People in your family have type 2 diabetes

You’re over 45 years old

You belong to a high-risk ethnic group: African American, Native American, Latino, Pacific Islanders

You’re overweight and don’t move much

You have high blood pressure

You had diabetes while pregnant or delivered a baby weighing more than 9 pounds

Now take the diabetes risk test. The Test asks you simple questions about your weight, age, family history, like above, and other potential risks for type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. You’ll learn whether you are at low, moderate or high risk for type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes Alert Day lasts a month: It runs through April 22 during which time the ADA will be rallying one million people to take the Test. Be among them.

Seriously, you could be walking around with diabetes and not know it like millions of people. 

If that’s true for you, by time you’re officially diagnosed, years from now, you may be among the 25% who have complications upon diagnosis because they had diabetes for years and didn’t know it so didn’t take care of it. 

Trust me, if you can avoid that, do. Take the test, it’s a very small price to pay for a very large gift – knowing whether or not you have diabetes now.