According to the CDC, about 38 million Americans have diabetes. That’s roughly one out of every 10 people. Diabetes is a serious disease that can shorten your life expectancy and lead to a variety of complications, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, eye diseases and blindness, neuropathy, amputations, and stroke. But despite its prevalence and seriousness, some myths about diabetes persist.

If you or someone you know has diabetes, you may be quite familiar with the idea that diabetics need to watch their sugar intake. But what about everyone else? Can eating too much sugar increase your risk of diabetes? Or do you only need to worry about your sugar intake if you’re diagnosed with diabetes?

You may have heard increasing talk about prediabetes in the news. But what exactly is it? And should you be worried about it. Before people develop type 2 diabetes, they almost always have “prediabetes” – that is, blood-glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

Most people think of diabetes as a problem with your blood sugar. But did you know that diabetes is also associated with a higher risk of heart disease? In fact, the CDC reports that people with diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease as those who aren’t diabetic. Learn more about what why diabetics are more at risk of cardiovascular disease — and what you can do about it!

You’ve probably heard of diabetes, a chronic medical condition where the body can’t properly process glucose in the blood. What you may not know is that there are two distinct types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Both T1D and T2D require lifelong management after diagnosis. There are some key differences between the two that affect the way the disease is managed.

Prediabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar and A1C are elevated — though not enough to be considered diabetes. With prediabetes, your body is less sensitive to the insulin you produce. This means that you’ll often experience blood sugar spikes after eating, especially carb-heavy meals. People with prediabetes often end up with diabetes.