Essential Notes On Blood Sugar And Insulin
You have approximately 5 liters (about 21 cups) of blood traveling around in your blood vessels and heart at any given moment. In these 5 liters of blood, you need only about one teaspoon of sugar for all of your regular activities. If you regularly have more than a teaspoon of sugar floating through your blood vessels, the excess sugar can slow down your circulation, which, over time, can cause all of the problems you would expect to have if you had thick maple syrup clogging up your blood vessels. This is essentially what happens when a person becomes diabetic. In order to keep the amount of sugar floating through your blood vessels at around a teaspoon, your body releases insulin whenever you eat foods that release sugar into your bloodstream. Eating sugary foods, most sweeteners, grains, cookies, pastries, cakes, pasta, and starchy vegetables like potatoes all lead to a release of sugar into your bloodstream. Insulin works by stimulating your cells to sponge up this excess sugar out of your bloodstream. Once inside your cells, sugar is used for energy, with any excess amount being converted to fat tissue. If you regularly eat sugary foods and highly processed carbohydrates, your body will have released so much insulin that it will begin to lose its sensitivity to insulin, which means that your cells won’t receive as strong a signal to sponge up excess sugar out of your blood. This will lead to excess sugar floating around your blood vessels and all the health problems that come with this scenario. Just a few years ago, 110 - 120 mg/dL (6.1 - 6.7 mmol/L) was widely considered the upper range for a normal fasting blood sugar level. Today, a fasting blood sugar level less than 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) is considered normal, while anything within 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to Continue reading >>
Hyperglycemia (high Blood Sugar)
What Is Hyperglycemia? Hyperglycemia may be described as an excess of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Your endocrine system regulates the amount of sugar that is stored and used for energy. It is important in brain cell function, and energy levels. Since the sugar that you consume in your diet is either used or stored, certain conditions and disorders may cause you to have difficulty processing and storing blood glucose, resulting in hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. One hormone that is important to the normal storing and processing of sugar is insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is made in the pancreas that is responsible for maintaining "normal" blood sugar levels. If you have a problem with your pancreas, then you may have increased blood sugar levels. Normal blood Glucose (sugar) levels are 60-110 mg/dL. Normal values may vary from laboratory to laboratory. Levels higher than these might indicate hyperglycemia. Causes of Hyperglycemia: Diabetes. About 90% of people with diabetes, have diabetes of adult onset (Diabetes type 2). You are more at risk for developing diabetes if you are older, extremely overweight (obese), if you have a family history of diabetes (parents, siblings), and if you are of African-American, Hispanic American, or Native-American heritage. People who have diabetes have an underproduction of the hormone, insulin, which lowers your blood sugar levels. If you have diabetes, you will have problems with elevated blood sugar levels. If you develop diabetes type 2, and you are an adult, your healthcare provider may prescribe medications in a pill form, which allow your body to process insulin that is needed for maintaining "normal" blood glucose levels. It is likely that your pancreas is producing enough insulin, but your body is resistant to the insulin, a Continue reading >>
Why Blood Sugar Can Be High In The Morning
You wouldn’t expect hours of sleep and fasting to leave you with high blood sugar. But elevated morning glucose may be more common than you think. Although it’s not a major problem when it occurs from time to time, consistently high morning levels need your doctor’s attention. Causes of Morning Hyperglycemia High blood glucose in the morning typically occurs due to one of three distinct causes: Dawn Phenomenon The “dawn phenomenon” describes high morning glucose that occurs due to a natural rise in hormone levels. During the early morning hours between about 4 and 8 a.m., your body releases hormones like cortisol and growth hormones to get ready for the day. For reasons experts don’t completely understand, your liver produces extra glucose in response to these hormones. People without diabetes secrete more insulin to handle the extra glucose. But for people with diabetes, blood glucose levels can rise too high. Increased blood sugar due to the dawn phenomenon is usually treated with diabetes medication. If you are on insulin, your insulin levels may need to be changed. The Somogyi Effect It’s possible to experience low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, while sleeping and not even know it. The potentially dangerous problem can occur for a number of different reasons—from not eating enough or taking too much insulin, to drinking too much alcohol. In some people, the body compensates for the hypoglycemia by producing a lot of hormones. This, in turn, causes blood sugar levels to rise. Not everyone wakes in reaction to low blood glucose levels. But being sweaty or having a headache in the morning can be a sign. If you suffer from the Somogyi effect (named after the scientist who first described the condition), your doctor may recommend that you eat a snack befor Continue reading >>
Tests For Blood Sugar (glucose) And Hba1c
Blood sugar (glucose) measurements are used to diagnose diabetes. They are also used to monitor glucose control for those people who are already known to have diabetes. Play VideoPlayMute0:00/0:00Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%Stream TypeLIVE0:00Playback Rate1xChapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off, selected Subtitles undefined settings, opens undefined settings dialog captions and subtitles off, selected Audio TrackFullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal Dialog End of dialog window. If your glucose level remains high then you have diabetes. If the level goes too low then it is called hypoglycaemia. The main tests for measuring the amount of glucose in the blood are: Random blood glucose level. Fasting blood glucose level. The HbA1c blood test. Oral glucose tolerance test. Capillary blood glucose (home monitoring). Urine test for blood sugar (glucose). Blood tests for blood sugar (glucose) Random blood glucose level A sample of blood taken at any time can be a useful test if diabetes is suspected. A level of 11.1 mmol/L or more in the blood sample indicates that you have diabetes. A fasting blood glucose test may be done to confirm the diagnosis. Fasting blood glucose level Continue reading >>
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- Postprandial Blood Glucose Is a Stronger Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Than Fasting Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Particularly in Women: Lessons from the San Luigi Gonzaga Diabetes Study
- Lower Blood Sugar Naturally to Prevent High Blood Sugar from Leading to Diabetes
Diabetes In Dogs: Symptoms, Causes, & Treatment
Diabetes is a chronic disease that can affect dogs and cats and other animals (including apes, pigs, and horses) as well as humans. Although diabetes can’t be cured, it can be managed very successfully. Diabetes mellitus, or “sugar diabetes,” is the type of diabetes seen most often in dogs. It is a metabolism disorder. Metabolism refers to how the body converts food to energy. To understand what diabetes is, it helps to understand some of this process. The conversion of food nutrients into energy to power the body’s cells involves an ongoing interplay of two things: • Glucose: essential fuel for the body’s cells. When food is digested, the body breaks down some of the nutrients into glucose, a type of sugar that is a vital source of energy for certain body cells and organs. The glucose is absorbed from the intestines into the blood, which then transports the glucose throughout the body. • Insulin: in charge of fuel delivery. Meanwhile, an important organ next to the stomach called the pancreas releases the hormone insulin into the body. Insulin acts as a “gatekeeper” that tells cells to grab glucose and other nutrients out of the bloodstream and use them as fuel. What is diabetes? With diabetes, the glucose-insulin connection isn’t working as it should. Diabetes occurs in dogs in two forms: • Insulin-deficiency diabetes—This is when the dog’s body isn’t producing enough insulin. This happens when the pancreas is damaged or otherwise not functioning properly. Dogs with this type of diabetes need daily shots to replace the missing insulin. This is the most common type of diabetes in dogs. • Insulin-resistance diabetes—This is when the pancreas is producing some insulin, but the dog’s body isn’t utilizing the insulin as it should. The ce Continue reading >>
Why Is My Blood Glucose So High In The Morning?
I am puzzled by my blood sugar pattern. I am not on any medications. My morning fasting blood sugar is always the highest of the day—between 120 and 140 mg/dl. The rest of the day it is in the normal range. Why does this occur? Continue reading >>
Controlling Blood Sugar In Diabetes: How Low Should You Go?
Diabetes is an ancient disease, but the first effective drug therapy was not available until 1922, when insulin revolutionized the management of the disorder. Insulin is administered by injection, but treatment took another great leap forward in 1956, when the first oral diabetic drug was introduced. Since then, dozens of new medications have been developed, but scientists are still learning how best to use them. And new studies are prompting doctors to re-examine a fundamental therapeutic question: what level of blood sugar is best? Normal metabolism To understand diabetes, you should first understand how your body handles glucose, the sugar that fuels your metabolism. After you eat, your digestive tract breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugars that are small enough to be absorbed into your bloodstream. Glucose is far and away the most important of these sugars, and it's an indispensable source of energy for your body's cells. But to provide that energy, it must travel from your blood into your cells. Insulin is the hormone that unlocks the door to your cells. When your blood glucose levels rise after a meal, the beta cells of your pancreas spring into action, pouring insulin into your blood. If you produce enough insulin and your cells respond normally, your blood sugar level drops as glucose enters the cells, where it is burned for energy or stored for future use in your liver as glycogen. Insulin also helps your body turn amino acids into proteins and fatty acids into body fat. The net effect is to allow your body to turn food into energy and to store excess energy to keep your engine running if fuel becomes scarce in the future. A diabetes primer Diabetes is a single name for a group of disorders. All forms of the disease develop when the pancreas is unable to Continue reading >>
How Blood Sugar Affects Your Body
When you have diabetes, your blood sugar (glucose) levels may be consistently high. Over time, this can damage your body and lead to many other problems. How much sugar in the blood is too much? And why is high glucose so bad for you? Here’s a look at how your levels affect your health. They're less than 100 mg/dL after not eating (fasting) for at least 8 hours. And they're less than 140 mg/dL 2 hours after eating. During the day, levels tend to be at their lowest just before meals. For most people without diabetes, blood sugar levels before meals hover around 70 to 80 mg/dL. For some people, 60 is normal; for others, 90. What's a low sugar level? It varies widely, too. Many people's glucose won't ever fall below 60, even with prolonged fasting. When you diet or fast, the liver keeps your levels normal by turning fat and muscle into sugar. A few people's levels may fall somewhat lower. Doctors use these tests to find out if you have diabetes: Fasting plasma glucose test. The doctor tests your blood sugar levels after fasting for 8 hours and it’s higher than 126 mg/dL. Oral glucose tolerance test. After fasting for 8 hours, you get a special sugary drink. Two hours later your sugar level is higher than 200. Random check. The doctor tests your blood sugar and it’s higher than 200, plus you’re peeing more, always thirsty, and you’ve gained or lost a significant amount of weight. He’ll then do a fasting sugar level test or an oral glucose tolerance test to confirm the diagnosis. Any sugar levels higher than normal are unhealthy. Levels that are higher than normal, but not reaching the point of full-blown diabetes, are called prediabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, 86 million people in the U.S. have this condition, which can lead to diabetes Continue reading >>
Could Your Child Have Diabetes?
More than 15,000 children are diagnosed with type 1 every year. Make sure you know the telltale signs -- they're all too easy to dismiss. When Chloe Powell started begging for one more drink of water every night, her father, Charles, thought his then 7-year-old was using a common bedtime stall tactic. "I was irritated that she wouldn't go to sleep," admits Dr. Powell, who's a family physician in Dallas. With all she was drinking, he wasn't surprised when she began wetting the bed. But when Chloe couldn't make it through a conversation without having to use the bathroom, he became concerned. "I figured she had a urinary-tract infection, and she'd take some antibiotics and feel better," says Dr. Powell. He wasn't at all prepared for what his daughter's urine test showed: a dangerously high level of sugar that was a clear indicator of type 1 diabetes. In an instant, Chloe, now 10, went from being a kid who never thought twice about the foods she ate or the energy she burned to one who'd face a lifetime of carbohydrate counting, finger pricks, and insulin injections. A Disease on the Rise Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly destroy healthy cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. (Type 2, on the other hand, occurs when the body doesn't respond to the insulin that's being made.) Insulin ensures that sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream gets into the body's cells where it's needed for energy; without insulin, sugar builds up in the blood, which can be deadly. It's important to begin insulin therapy as soon as possible because high blood-sugar levels can cause permanent vision and nerve problems as well as damage to blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. Since the 198 Continue reading >>
![Diabetes Blood Sugar Levels Chart [printable]](https://diabetestalk.net/images/GAVKLrbDLZZFDvZc.jpg)
Diabetes Blood Sugar Levels Chart [printable]
JUMP TO: Intro | Blood sugar vs blood glucose | Diagnostic levels | Blood sugar goals for people with type 2 diabetes | Visual chart | Commonly asked questions about blood sugar Before Getting Started I was talking to one of my clients recently about the importance of getting blood sugar levels under control. So before sharing the diabetes blood sugar levels chart, I want to OVER EMPHASIZE the importance of you gaining the best control of your blood sugar levels as you possibly can. Just taking medication and doing nothing else is really not enough. You see, I just don’t think many people are fully informed about why it is so crucial to do, because if you already have a diabetes diagnosis then you are already at high risk for heart disease and other vascular problems. Maybe you've been better informed by your doctor but many people I come across haven't. So if that's you, it's important to know that during your pre-diabetic period, there is a lot of damage that is already done to the vascular system. This occurs due to the higher-than-normal blood sugar, that's what causes the damage. So now that you have type 2 diabetes, you want to prevent any of the nasty complications by gaining good control over your levels. Truly, ask anyone having to live with diabetes complications and they’ll tell you it’s the pits! You DO NOT want it to happen to you if you can avoid it. While medications may be needed, just taking medication alone and doing nothing is really not enough! Why is it not enough even if your blood sugars seem reasonably under control? Well, one common research observation in people with diabetes, is there is a slow and declining progression of blood sugar control and symptoms. Meaning, over time your ability to regulate sugars and keep healthy gets harder. I Continue reading >>
Mothers' High Normal Blood Sugar Levels Place Infants At Risk For Birth Problems
Pregnant women with blood sugar levels in the higher range of normal — but not high enough to be considered diabetes — are more likely than women with lower blood sugar levels to give birth to babies at risk for many of the same problems seen in babies born to women with diabetes during pregnancy, according to a study funded in large part by the National Institutes of Health. These problems included a greater likelihood for Caesarean delivery and an abnormally large body size at birth. Infants born to women with higher blood sugar levels were also at risk for shoulder dystocia, a condition occurring during birth, in which an infant’s shoulder becomes lodged inside the mother's body, effectively halting the birth process. The study authors declined to make recommendations for acceptable blood sugar levels for pregnant women. The researchers were unable to identify a precise level where an elevation in blood sugar increased the risk for any of the outcomes observed in the study. Rather, the chances for the outcomes were observed to increase gradually, corresponding with increases in the women’s blood sugar levels. It is well known that high blood sugar levels characteristic of the diabetes that occurs during pregnancy present risks for expectant mothers and the infants born to them. The current study is the first to document that higher blood sugar levels, not high enough to be considered diabetes, also convey these increased risks. Furthermore, when the researchers mathematically adjusted for other potential causes of these risks — such as older maternal age, obesity, and high blood pressure — the increased risks due to higher blood sugar levels were still present. "These important new findings highlight the risks of elevated blood sugar levels during pregnan Continue reading >>
Does Fasting Glucose Reading Of 106 Mean Insulin Resistance?
If your fasting glucose is about 106, do not panic, as this does not automatically mean you have insulin resistance or prediabetes. I decided to add in a routine physical, which included the standard fasting glucose test. The result was 106, which netted a “flag” alert in the report, that was e-mailed to me. The test result came a few days before my visit, and the doctor merely mentioned that it was flagged, but not to worry about it. Several months later I was reviewing my medical paperwork and saw the printed-out blood glucose result. In the next column it said “impaired glucose metabolism.” WHAT?! A Mayo Clinic site says that a normal fasting blood sugar reading is 70-100 (mg/dL). The American Diabetes Association says that 1-2 hours after eating, the fasting glucose (blood sugar) reading should be under 180 mg. The ADA says that over 125 for fasting glucose means diabetes. So what does 106 mean? According to Kaiser Permanente today (my current HMO and also at the time of the blood sugar test), a normal fasting glucose result is “less than or equal to 110 milligrams per deciliter.” Two years ago, however, their normal range was under 100, which was why my result of 106 was flagged. The Kaiser site for test result information is open only to members, and it states: “These ranges vary from lab to lab, and your lab may have a different range for what’s normal. Your lab report should contain the range your lab uses. Also, your doctor will evaluate your results based on your health and other factors. This means that a value that falls outside the normal values listed here may still be normal for you or your lab.” The site lists factors (other than diabetes) that can cause a high blood sugar reading, and first on the list is “Stress.” This information Continue reading >>
- Postprandial Blood Glucose Is a Stronger Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Than Fasting Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Particularly in Women: Lessons from the San Luigi Gonzaga Diabetes Study
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- Does Gestational Diabetes always mean a Big Baby and Induction?
8 Sneaky Things That Raise Your Blood Sugar Levels
Skipping breakfast iStock/Thinkstock Overweight women who didn’t eat breakfast had higher insulin and blood sugar levels after they ate lunch a few hours later than they did on another day when they ate breakfast, a 2013 study found. Another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that men who regularly skipped breakfast had a 21 percent higher chance of developing diabetes than those who didn’t. A morning meal—especially one that is rich in protein and healthy fat—seems to stabilize blood sugar levels throughout the day. Your breakfast is not one of the many foods that raise blood sugar. Here are some other things that happen to your body when you skip breakfast. Artificial sweeteners iStock/Thinkstock They have to be better for your blood sugar than, well, sugar, right? An interesting new Israeli study suggests that artificial sweeteners can still take a negative toll and are one of the foods that raise blood sugar. When researchers gave mice artificial sweeteners, they had higher blood sugar levels than mice who drank plain water—or even water with sugar! The researchers were able to bring the animals’ blood sugar levels down by treating them with antibiotics, which indicates that these fake sweeteners may alter gut bacteria, which in turn seems to affect how the body processes glucose. In a follow-up study of 400 people, the research team found that long-term users of artificial sweeteners were more likely to have higher fasting blood sugar levels, reported HealthDay. While study authors are by no means saying that sugary beverages are healthier, these findings do suggest that people who drink artificially sweetened beverages should do so in moderation as part of a healthy diet. Here's what else happens when you cut artificial sweetener Continue reading >>
How To Maintain Normal Blood Sugar
If you are one of the millions of people who has prediabetes, diabetes, metabolic syndrome or any other form of “insulin resistance,” maintaining normal blood sugar levels can be challenging. Over the past several decades, these chronic disorders have swept through the U.S. and many other nations, reaching epidemic proportions and causing serious, but often preventable, side effects like nerve damage, fatigue, loss of vision, arterial damage and weight gain. Elevated blood sugar levels maintained for an extended period of time can push someone who is “prediabetic” into having full-blown diabetes (which now affects about one in every three adults in the U.S.). (1) Even for people who aren’t necessarily at a high risk for developing diabetes or heart complications, poorly managed blood sugar can lead to common complications, including fatigue, weight gain and sugar cravings. In extreme cases, elevated blood sugar can even contribute to strokes, amputations, coma and death in people with a history of insulin resistance. Blood sugar is raised by glucose, which is the sugar we get from eating many different types of foods that contain carbohydrates. Although we usually think of normal blood sugar as being strictly reliant upon how many carbohydrates and added sugar someone eats, other factors also play a role. For example, stress can elevate cortisol levels, which interferes with how insulin is used, and the timing of meals can also affect how the body manages blood sugar. (2) What can you do to help avoid dangerous blood sugar swings and lower diabetes symptoms? As you’ll learn, normal blood sugar levels are sustained through a combination of eating a balanced, low-processed diet, getting regular exercise and managing the body’s most important hormones in othe Continue reading >>
Diabetes: Blood Sugar Readings
www.CardioSmart.org What is a blood sugar reading? A blood sugar reading shows how much sugar, or glucose, is in your blood. A test of your blood sugar may be done to: • Check for diabetes. • See how well diabetes treatment is working. • Check for diabetes that occurs during pregnancy (gestational diabetes). • Check for low or high blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia). What are normal blood sugar readings? There are several types of blood sugar tests. Normal results can vary from lab to lab. Talk with your doctor about what any abnormal results might mean, and about any symptoms and other health problems you have. Normal values for adults who do NOT have prediabetes or diabetes Less than or equal to 100 When you have not eaten (fasting blood sugar): Less than 140 if you are age 50 or younger; less than 150 if you are age 50 to 60; less than 160 if you are age 60 and older 2 hours after eating (postprandial): Levels vary depending on when and how much you ate at your last meal. In general: 80 to 120 beforemeals or when waking up; 100 to 140 at bedtime. Random (casual): Target values for nonpregnant adults who have prediabetes or diabetes 80 to 130When you have not eaten (fasting blood sugar): Less than 1802 hours after eating (postprandial): What causes abnormal blood sugar? High blood sugar can be caused by: • Diabetes or prediabetes. • Certain medicines, such as corticosteroids. Low blood sugar can be caused by: • Certain medicines, especially those used to treat diabetes. • Liver disease, such as cirrhosis. Rarely, high or low blood sugar can be caused by other medical problems that affect hormone levels. Prediabetes and diabetes Blood sugar helps fuel your body. Normally, your blood sugar rises slightly af Continue reading >>
- Lower Blood Sugar Naturally to Prevent High Blood Sugar from Leading to Diabetes
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- Postprandial Blood Glucose Is a Stronger Predictor of Cardiovascular Events Than Fasting Blood Glucose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Particularly in Women: Lessons from the San Luigi Gonzaga Diabetes Study
