Check your two hour post blood sugars as they are just as important!

This is a very important reminder of sorts… So many of my patients assume that they only need to examine their fasting blood sugars- that is not so!

We all know as diabetics we prick our fingers and make sure that we keep our blood sugar levels within “normal” limits approximately 4 times a day. The typical, and I say typical because I know that every diabetic is different, is to check our blood glucose in the morning before breakfast, before we eat our lunch, before we eat our dinner and then once before we turn in for the night.

Due to some new research and a report titled “Guideline for management of Postmeal Glucose” that was carried out for The International Diabetes Federation we may need to be pricking our fingers even more frequently. Oh boy, how fun!

Warwick Medical School researchers looked at a range of studies that examined in particular the two hour post meal peak in blood sugars and found a substantial body of evidence that reducing postmeal plasma glucose is as important, perhaps even more important for achieving overall optimum HbA1c levels.

The researchers firmly believe that these sudden and dramatic increases in post meal “highs” can be more dangerous then a more constant elevated blood glucose or A1c. I know one thing… this calls for more research to be done on continuous glucose monitoring devices. I will curious to see how far these new findings make into clinical teaching. I guess this is why living with a chronic disease like diabetes can be so frustrating, every few months there is a new and improved way to do what you have been doing all along. No one can ever say we’re not flexible…