Diabetes is generally diagnosed years after its onset, which means that the disease has an enormous head start in damaging your body, including your heart.

In fact, it’s not uncommon for a person to learn they have diabetes only after they’ve had a heart attack.

When it comes to diabetes, you need to be proactive.

If you have major risk factors for diabetes — if you’re older, overweight, or if you have a close relative with the disease — get tested.

Years ago, there was only one major test to confirm a diagnosis of diabetes — the blood glucose test.

That test is still the bedrock of diabetes testing, but nowadays there are more sophisticated tests that are used as well.