Over 40 and overweight? Take this test

According to a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, people 40 or older who are overweight or obese should be tested for abnormal blood sugar levels.

What does having abnormal blood sugar mean? Having abnormal blood sugar means that your body is not breaking down and using sugar the way that it should. This can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Having an abnormal blood sugar doesn’t mean you have diabetes, but it does mean you are on your way to developing it. There are three tests your doctor can do to test your blood sugar levels:  hemoglobin A1C, fasting plasma glucose, or the oral glucose tolerance test. If your levels come back abnormal on one of them, that may indicate you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Abnormal levels are between 5.7 and 6.5 percent on the hemoglobin A1C test, between 100 and 125 mg/dL on the fasting plasma glucose test, or between 140 and 199 mg/dL on the oral glucose tolerance test.

This new recommendation is an update of the USPSTF’s 2008 recommendation, which suggested only screening adults with high blood pressure for type 2 diabetes. Now, the organization has reason to believe that people who are overweight (having a BMI of 25 or above) should be screened for abnormal blood sugar levels. They say that this raises the risk of blood sugar problems and heart issues, even if those people are not experiencing any symptoms.