Avoid Diabetes, Maintain These Normal Blood Sugar Levels

Sometimes, during the course of a conversation, when someone has learned that I have type-2 diabetes, I am asked about the high blood sugars that cause the disease and what are normal blood sugar levels and how to measure them.

Not difficult questions to answer, I usually say that normal blood sugar levels for a non-diabetic person should be no higher than 108 mg/dL and that most people in the United States who have been diagnosed as having diabetes would possess a small hand-held measuring device, usually referred to as a glucometer. The glucometer can almost instantly measure a small amount of blood obtained from a pinprick, usually at to the end a fingertip. Although the problem for some people is that they are not aware they have diabetes.

The reason to know what are the accepted normal blood sugar levels, is to be able to know whether your own blood sugars fall into that safe range. If they do not, there is a real possibility that you are developing diabetes or a prediabetic condition, and that requires additional testing to make a determination. A simple explanation of how sugar is used by the body follows.

The sugar in the bloodstream is obtained from the food consumed each day, mainly from carbohydrates that are broken down by the body’s digestion system. The bloodstream carries the glucose to the cells of the body that need it to fuel their cellular activities that sustain life.

Throughout the day, it is quite normal for blood sugar levels to fluctuate from time to time, especially influenced by food intake and any exercise that may be occur. A healthy body is able to control the sugars and maintain them within a safe range.

However, people who have been diagnosed as having diabetes are unable to control and manage blood sugars to keep them within a safe range and frequently require prescription medications to support their best efforts to do so. They usually must also adopt dietary and lifestyle changes to minimize the effects of the excess sugar that circulates in the blood. Diabetes is a serious disease in which blood sugars cause damage to the cardio vascular system and other organs of the body.

With the aid of a glucometer, there are two recommended times during the day when measurement of blood sugars should be made. The first, referred to as a fasting blood sugar measurement, is usually taken in the early morning before breakfast after rising from eight hours of sleep. The second suggested blood test should be performed 2 hours after eating a meal. The target values for those tests are given below.

Another important test, ordered by a doctor, is known as a Glycosylated Hemoglobin blood test, also called an A1c blood test. This test requires a laboratory analysis of a patient’s blood sample taken by a technician in a clinical setting. The A1c test identifies the average amount of sugar existing in the blood for the last 3-month time period.

Blood Sugar Units of measure:

The units of measure used in the United States are milligrams per deciliter, written as mg/dL. However, in Canada and the U.K. and also in many other countries, blood sugars are measured in millimoles per liter, written as mmol/L. 1 mmol/L = 18 mg/dL. Both systems of measurement are used in the values given below.

Normal blood sugar levels, according to the American Diabetes Association, are as follows, in both mg/dLand mmol/L. Please note that values of other countries may vary a little:

1. A normal, fasting blood sugar is less than 100 mg/dL ((less than 5.6 mmol/L). Canada’s official values are less than 6.1 mmol/L.

2. Two hours after a meal, blood sugar levels should be less than 140 mg/dL (less than 7.8 mmol/L).

3. An A1c test result should be 6% or less to be normal.

Higher values than those given above are indicative of a diabetic condition. From time to time, national diabetes authorities may change blood sugar values to reflect changing research or scientific opinion.

For more on this topic, see Normal Blood Sugar Levels and check out Normal Blood Sugar Levels and You. This article, Avoid Diabetes, Maintain These Normal Blood Sugar Levels is available for free reprint.