For decades, a diabetes diagnosis has relied largely on measuring blood sugar and seeing whether it crosses a clinical threshold. But researchers increasingly worry that approach misses millions of people already progressing toward disease . Globally, diabetes has become one of the defining health crises of the modern era. According to the World Health Organization, 14 percent of adults were living with diabetes in 2022, up from 7 percent in 1990. In the US, more than 40 million people have diabetes, but around 11 million remain undiagnosed. More than 115 million Americans are estimated to have prediabetes, and roughly 80 percent do not know it. In the UK, around 5.8 million people are living with diabetes, with up to 1.3 million thought to be undiagnosed. “We’re talking about an epidemic that, in my mind, is way worse than the Covid pandemic,” says Michael Snyder, professor of genetics at Stanford University.…