How To Keep Your Blood Sugar Levels Normal Tailor

The blood sugar chart above shows the normal glucose levels one should have, depending on whether one has diabetes.

A1C

What is A1c? The A1c or HbA1c is a blood test that gives you an idea of  your average blood sugar or blood glucose for the past two to three months.

It checks the percentage of your hemoglobin that has merged or ‘glycated’ with the glucose in your blood. Hence, it is also known as glycosylated hemoglobin or glycohemoglobin. The test can be done any time and no fasting is required.

As of 2011, The World Health Organization recommends that to diagnose diabetes one’s A1c should be at least 6.5%. However, if glucose test states otherwise, an A1c of less that 6.5% is not excluded from diabetes. The A1c results may be reported as eAG, where A1c 6.5% is equivalent to 140 mg/dl.

For people with diabetes, the recommended A1c that one should have at all times should be below 7% (53 mmol/mol) or 154 mg/dl (8.54 mmol/L). For people without diabetes, one should not have an A1c higher than 6% (42 mmol/mol) which is 126 mg/dl (6.95 mmol/L).

eAG

eAG represents one’s estimated average blood glucose. This is affected by several factors which include:

1. Medication and dosage taken 2. Recent exercise/ activity and its intensity 3. What have you eaten recently 4. Stress levels 5. Are you dehydrated? 6. Illness (Hormones released to fight the illness may raise blood glucose levels) 7. Short or Long term pain (e.g. Your body may release hormones that raises glucose due to a sunburn that causes you pain.)

If you are under a diabetes control plan, keeping a log for your blood sugar check is essential. This is because it gives your doctor a clearer picture of how well your blood sugar control plan is working.

Do note that the normal sugar levels above are just general guidelines and target levels may differ for each individual.