Question:
From looking at various reputable web sites and various reputable
publications, there seems to be a variation in recommended blood glucose
levels ( whole blood, since that's what my meter reads ) at the following
times:
Fasting (i.e., before breakfast)
One Hour After A Meal
Two Hours After A Meal
Three Hours After A Meal
My questions are: what do you participants in this website consider to be
the best sources for the above information, and what numbers have you found
to be the best guidelines? Also, how much variation can be expected even
with reliable equipment.
Answer:
There is a difference between optimal and acceptable BG levels. Optimal
is normal, non-diabetic numbers...no one will argue with that.
Acceptable levels is where people and organizations will have disagreements. It's really up to you and your doctor / diabetes care
team to decided what's acceptable to you. The higher the numbers the
greater the risk of long term complications..that is a given. You'll
have to decide for yourself how much risk you are willing to accept
when setting your BG goals. There are also disagreements on which levels cause what damage...unfortunately no one really knows for sure
what level of BG causes what damage. This is an unknown but two things
are known, non-diabetics without high BP do not suffere from DM related
complications. The risk of suffering complications rises with higher BG
levels as measured by the A1c. Whether or not individual spikes affects
overall health is unknown. Whether individual BG spikes causes damage
is unknown...it is however logical to assume that they do contribute to
overall higher BG and thus contributes to complications.
