Guide 2/6 in our diabetes series.
For more context, you can revisit the other Guides in this 6-week diabetes series:

·         Week 1 – Basics of Diabetes,

·         Week 3 – Diabetes & Sleep,

·         Week 4 – Lifestyle & Sleep,

·         Week 5 – Warning Signs & Complications,

·          Week 6 – Care Pathways & Modern Follow-Up.

Each GUIDE article has a matching, more scientific counterpart in the Essential series, available free of charge to all newsletter subscribers.

Diabetes is no longer a rare chronic illness. It has quietly become one of the defining health challenges of our time – often without people realising anything is wrong until serious damage is already done.

1. A global epidemic hiding in plain sight

According to the latest International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas 2025, around 589–590 million adults aged 20–79 – roughly 1 in 9 adults worldwide – are living with diabetes. (International Diabetes Federation)

IDF also estimates that more than 4 in 10 adults with diabetes are not yet aware they have it, which means hundreds of millions of people are living with chronically elevated blood sugar without treatment or monitoring. (International Diabetes Federation)

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that diabetes and kidney disease due to diabetes caused over 2 million deaths in 2021, and that high blood glucose is responsible for about 11% of deaths from cardiovascular disease. (World Health Organization)

This is why many experts now describe diabetes as a “silent epidemic” or “silent pandemic”: the numbers are huge, the impact is massive, and yet it often stays under the radar in everyday life.

2. Why diabetes is called “silent”

For most people, type 2 diabetes develops slowly over years. Early on, blood sugar may be high enough to damage blood vessels and nerves, but symptoms are mild, vague, or completely absent. (International Diabetes Federation)

When early signs do appear, they are easy to dismiss as “stress” or “getting older”. Common warning signs can include: (International Diabetes Federation)

  • Being more thirsty than usual
  • Needing to urinate more often, especially at night
  • Feeling unusually tired or drained
  • Blurred vision
  • Slow-healing cuts or frequent infections

Because these symptoms are non-specific, many people never connect them to diabetes – or they appear only after years of silent damage to the heart, kidneys, eyes, or nerves.

3. The real risks of uncontrolled blood sugar

Diabetes is not just about “high sugar”. Long-term, poorly controlled high blood glucose seriously damages blood vessels and organs. WHO and major cardiovascular organisations highlight diabetes as a leading cause of: (World Health Organization)

  • Heart disease and stroke
  • Chronic kidney disease and kidney failure
  • Vision loss and blindness
  • Nerve damage (neuropathy), pain, loss of sensation
  • Foot ulcers and lower-limb amputations

People with diabetes are about twice as likely to develop heart disease, and large global analyses indicate they are two to three times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease compared with people without diabetes. (CDC)

In many cases, the first “visible” sign of diabetes is not a symptom at all, but a heart attack, stroke, or sudden vision problem. That is why early detection and prevention matter.

4. Who is most at risk?

Most diabetes cases worldwide are type 2 diabetes, strongly linked to lifestyle, environment, and genetics. IDF, WHO and other major health agencies highlight several key risk factors: (International Diabetes Federation)

Modifiable risk factors (things you can influence):

  • Overweight or obesity, especially around the waist
  • Physical inactivity – long periods of sitting, little regular exercise
  • Diets high in ultra-processed foods, added sugars, and low in fibre
  • Smoking and, in some cases, high alcohol intake
  • Poor sleep quality or very short sleep

Non-modifiable or partly modifiable factors:

  • Family history of type 2 diabetes
  • Older age (risk rises after about 40–45, but can appear earlier)
  • History of gestational diabetes or some hormonal conditions
  • Certain ethnic backgrounds with higher baseline risk

On top of diagnosed diabetes, IDF estimates that hundreds of millions of adults have “intermediate” high blood sugar – impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose – placing them at high risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes in the coming years. (International Diabetes Federation)

5. What you can do today (without panic)

This post is not about blame. It’s about awareness and small, realistic next steps.

Global public-health agencies consistently agree on a few core actions to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes, especially if you recognise yourself in the risk factors above: (World Health Organization)

  • Know your numbers. If you are at risk, ask a health professional about checking fasting blood glucose and/or HbA1c. A simple blood test is often the first step to clarity.
  • Move more, regularly. Even a brisk 30-minute walk most days can reduce insulin resistance and support heart health.
  • Prioritise real food when possible. More vegetables, whole grains, pulses, and less ultra-processed, high-sugar snacks and drinks.
  • Keep an eye on weight trends, especially around the waist – small, steady changes matter more than perfection.
  • Avoid tobacco. Smoking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and its cardiovascular complications.

If anything in this post sounds familiar – family history, extra weight, fatigue, or “borderline” blood tests – the most powerful next move is not to wait for a crisis. It’s to schedule a conversation with a qualified health professional, review your risk, and plan the next small step together.

Diabetes is a silent epidemic. But with earlier detection and realistic lifestyle changes, the story does not have to end in silence.

6. Discreet terrain-oriented support for early risk exploration (NLSA – for practitioners)

For practitioners who also work with energy / frequency / “terrain” approaches, the NLSA scanner distributed by Organotest is one option used in a complementary way, outside conventional medicine.

According to Organotest, the NLSA is a non-medical “quantum medicine” device that analyses bio-frequencies and the energetic terrain of the body via specialised sensors, software and reference frequency databases. It is presented as a way to explore patterns of dysregulation and trends in the body’s regulatory systems over time. (Organotest)

Very important: Organotest explicitly states that the NLSA is not a medical device, is not intended to perform a medical check-up, and does not provide a medical or paramedical diagnosis. Results are described as an energetic or informational view of the terrain, and can never replace blood tests, clinical examination, or medical follow-up for diabetes or any other disease. (Organotest)

  • In a preventive, complementary context, some practitioners use NLSA sessions to monitor subtle changes in the body’s energetic landscape – including patterns often seen in people under metabolic and cardiometabolic stress, well before diabetes is formally diagnosed.
  • In practice, this kind of tool is used in addition to, not instead of, standard risk assessment (history, blood tests, blood pressure, weight, etc.).

👉 For more information about the NLSA device and its non-medical positioning, you can visit:

NLSA

Always remember: for any suspicion of diabetes or high blood sugar, the reference remains a qualified medical professional and standard diagnostic tests.

Note for Practitioners

Because scientific publishers regularly update, reorganize, or restrict access to their articles, some reference URLs may occasionally change or become temporarily unavailable. If you notice a missing or inactive link, please inform us so we can provide the updated source and maintain the highest level of accuracy in our professional resources.

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Sources

  1. International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Diabetes Facts and Figures. 2025.
    https://idf.org/about-diabetes/diabetes-facts-figures/ (International Diabetes Federation)
  2. IDF Diabetes Atlas 11th Edition 2025 – Global Factsheet.https://diabetesatlas.org/media/uploads/sites/3/2025/04/IDF_Atlas_11th_Edition_2025_Global-Factsheet.pdf (Diabetes Atlas)
  3. Sun H, et al. IDF Diabetes Atlas 11th edition 2025: global prevalence and projections… Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2025.
    https://academic.oup.com/ndt/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ndt/gfaf177/8242620 (OUP Academic)
  4. World Health Organization (WHO). Diabetes – Fact sheet. 2023 update.
    https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes (World Health Organization)
  5. International Diabetes Federation. Intermediate hyperglycaemia.
    https://idf.org/about-diabetes/intermediate-hyperglycaemia/ (International Diabetes Federation)
  6. International Diabetes Federation. Type 2 Diabetes – Risk factors and symptoms.
    https://idf.org/about-diabetes/types-of-diabetes/type-2/ (International Diabetes Federation)
  7. World Heart Federation (WHF). Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease.
    https://world-heart-federation.org/what-we-do/diabetes/ (World Heart Federation)
  8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Diabetes and Your Heart. 2024.
    https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/diabetes-complications/diabetes-and-your-heart.html (CDC)
  9. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes.
    https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/risk-factors-type-2-diabetes (NIDDK)
  10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Diabetes Risk Factors.
    https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/risk-factors/index.html (CDC)
  11. Organotest. Quantic medicine device NLSA – technical and positioning information.
organotest.com