Blood Sugar Range

What should be my line of sugar in the blood? Is often one of the first things that people diagnosed with diabetes want and need to know. They are often given a response that compromises their lives and health.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) Complete Guide to Diabetes recommends 3rd Edition "to maintain blood glucose as close as possible to that of a person without diabetes" (page 153). We fully agree with that. This should be the goal of every person with diabetes.

But then, the ADA and other authorities deviate from this goal when they recommend a range with an upper limit which is alarmingly high. They recommend an A1C of 7% or less "help prevent diabetic complications of the kidneys, eyes, feet and nerves" (page 91).

(The A1C is a weighted average percentage of glycated hemoglobin, blood cells with glucose attached to them, in recent months. It is a good indicator of blood glucose during this period.)

Unfortunately, the recommended 7% is still too high. This is certainly not "as close as possible to that of a person without diabetes, which is about 5%.

Let's look at what an A1C of 7% is in terms of daily life in blood sugar. It shows an average blood glucose of 150 mg / dL (8.5 mmol / l). This may seem very average at the ADA, but studies by both the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the Federation International Diabetes Federation (IDF) indicate that anything above 140 mg / dL (8 mmol / l) significantly increases the risk of heart attack.

Note that this is the risk for a glucose level up until two hours after meals. The ADA higher than 150 mg / dL is a daily average. In other words, the ADA recommended maximum real is more like 180 mg / dL (10 mmol / l) - well above the already significant risk 140 mg / dl.

Thus, a lot safer than an acceptable level of blood sugar is not even the ADA 150, depending on the AACE and IDF and other authorities, but 140 mg / dl. And neither 150 nor 140 should be constant or average blood sugar concentration. The average blood glucose should be much lower, between 90 and 100 mg / dl (5 and 5.5 mmol / l), well below the ADA recommends 150 mg / dl.

If the average level of glucose can be maintained between 90 and 100 mg / dl, it should lead to an A1C test result of less than 6%. This one percentage point from a CIO to 7% and 6% can make the difference between a relatively healthy life with diabetes and one with a high risk of complications, heart attack and stroke.