Q A health check-up showed my fasting blood sugar is a bit high and I was told it's prediabetes. They said it isn't diabetes yet, so what exactly is this condition?
A Prediabetes means your fasting blood sugar is 100–125 mg/dL or your HbA1c is 5.7–6.4% — higher than normal but not yet in the diabetes range. It usually has no symptoms, but it's an important crossroads where you can still return to normal with proper care.
Detailed Answer
Prediabetes is a state where blood sugar sits between normal and diabetes. The criteria are a fasting blood sugar of 100–125 mg/dL, or an HbA1c of 5.7–6.4%, which reflects your average blood sugar over the past two to three months. Most people have no symptoms and it's found by chance during a check-up, but if left alone a fair number progress to diabetes. On the other hand, the key point is that this is a reversible stage — by losing weight and managing your diet and exercise, you can bring blood sugar back to normal.
Our Korean Medicine Clinic's Perspective
At Dongjedang, we view prediabetes as an early state where metabolism has become suppressed — the body can no longer burn incoming sugar for energy, so surplus begins to build up. We believe accumulated burden and stagnant circulation weaken the body's ability to process sugar, so our goal is to clear out what has piled up and revive metabolism, bringing both weight and blood sugar back toward normal together.
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