1 in 3 Teens Have Prediabetes, CDC Data Shows
Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
Briana Mercola
4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 October 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
- About 1 in 3 American teens — more than 8 million adolescents — already live with prediabetes, putting them at high risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke later in life
- Prediabetes is often silent, with many teens showing no symptoms, which means serious damage begins long before the condition is diagnosed
- Risk is higher in teens who are overweight, eat ultraprocessed foods, or are inactive, but lifestyle changes dramatically lower their chances of developing diabetes
- When prediabetes progresses, it damages blood vessels, disrupts energy production inside cells, and strains your pancreas until it no longer keeps blood sugar in check
- Parents play a key role in reversing prediabetes by encouraging healthier food choices, daily movement, regular sunlight, and monitoring blood sugar markers before Type 2 diabetes takes hold
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What would you do if one in three teenagers were already on the path to diabetes, |
| 0:04.6 | and the warning signs were almost invisible? |
| 0:07.0 | Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. |
| 0:10.7 | Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, |
| 0:14.6 | perfect for when you're on the go. |
| 0:16.2 | No reading required. |
| 0:17.4 | Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights. |
| 0:27.0 | Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Today we're examining new CDC data, |
| 0:32.2 | showing that pre-diabetes now affects about a third of American adolescents, what that means for you, and how early choices can change the trajectory. I'm Ethan Foster. In this episode, we'll break down what |
| 0:39.1 | pre-diabetes looks like in teens, why it's often missed, and the immediate steps you can take |
| 0:44.3 | to reduce risk and restore energy. I'm Alara Sky. You'll hear how researchers defined |
| 0:50.3 | pre-diabetes and adolescents, what the numbers actually show, and the specific actions |
| 0:55.5 | drawn directly from the report and analysis that help you intervene before type 2 diabetes takes hold. |
| 1:02.0 | Pre-diabetes means your blood sugar runs higher than normal, but not high enough for diabetes. |
| 1:07.5 | In teenagers, it's usually silent. Some may notice fatigue, thirst, frequent urination, or blurry vision, but many feel nothing. |
| 1:16.6 | That silence is the problem. |
| 1:18.6 | By the time type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, damage has already started. |
| 1:23.6 | Using N-H-A-N-E-S data, researchers defined pre-diabetes as fasting glucose between 100 and |
| 1:31.7 | 125 milligrams per deciliter, or an A-1C between 5.7 percent and 6.4 percent. In 20-23, they estimated |
| 1:42.0 | that 32.7 percent of U.S. adolescents, about 8.4 million, were living with pre-diabetes. |
| 1:49.0 | This is a nationally representative figure, so it reflects the broader reality, not a narrow sample. |
| 1:55.0 | Risk isn't confined to one group. Being overweight, having a family history of type 2 diabetes, and being physically |
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