Jack Woodfield
Blogger, Diabetes.co.uk
It is essential that people with diabetes have well-controlled blood glucose levels. Find out about controlling your blood sugar levels from Diabetes.co.uk blogger Jack Woodfield.
High blood glucose levels over a prolonged period can cause damage to blood vessels, which increases the risk of diabetes-related complications, such as neuropathy.
If you have diabetes, you should aim to keep your blood glucose levels between 4.0 and 7.0 mmol/l for as much of the time as possible, as recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).
If your blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but you don’t have diabetes, it could be that you have prediabetes. As symptoms develop gradually, many people have prediabetes but are completely unaware of it.
If your HbA1c level is between 6.0-6.4 mmol/mol, this can indicate the presence of prediabetes, and you would need to adopt diet and lifestyle changes to bring down these levels. HbA1c measures the average glucose in the blood between two to three months.
In order to reduce blood glucose levels, you should test your blood sugar regularly. Several factors can influence blood glucose levels, such as carbohydrate intake, exercise and missing medication, and testing often can help you understand how these factors affect you.
Regular testing will also enable you to maintain good HbA1c levels. However, not all people with type 2 diabetes are prescribed a free testing meter and strips.
One solution is the Type2Testing program, which provides testing strips alongside structured support. After 12 months, 96 per cent of members understood how food impacted blood glucose, and 92 per cent were more confident in managing their diabetes.
