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It may be possible someday to prevent diabetes. At least, that is the hope of researchers currently investigating "prediabetes"—that stage so early in the life of a potential diabetic that he is considered normal by conventional standards.
Actually, prediabetes is considered to exist, in a person genetically destined to become diabetic, any time from the beginning of his life until his first abnormal glucose tolerance test.
One of the research groups investigating prediabetes is a team at the Joslin Clinic in Boston. Drs. Searle B. Rees, Rafael A. Camerini-Davalos, James B. Caulfield, Oscar Lozano-Castaneda, Alexander Marble and Santiago Naldjian have developed tests for detecting prediabetes, and are now investigating the deviations from normal that can be detected through these techniques.
Using a study group of non-diabetics, diabetics and prediabetics, matched by sex and age, the researchers made studies of carbohydrate metabolism, renal status, neurological status, vascular conditions, and insulin activity.
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