Over the last few years doctors are increasingly relying on a test called hemoglobin A1c to screen for insulin resistance and diabetes. It's more practical (and significantly cheaper) than post-meal glucose testing, and it's less likely to be skewed by day-to-day changes than fasting blood glucose.
What is hemoglobin A1c?
Sugar has a tendency to stick to stuff. Anyone that has cooked with sugar can tell you that. In our bodies, sugar also sticks - ...
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In the last article I explained the three primary markers we use to track blood sugar: fasting blood glucose (FBG), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and hemoglobin A1c (A1c). We also looked at what the medical establishment considers as "normal" for these markers. The table below summarizes those values.
Marker
Normal
Pre-diabetes
Diabetes
Fasting blood glucose (mg/dL)
<99
100-125
>126
OGGT / post-meal (mg/dL after 2 hours)
<140
140-199
>200
Hemoglobin A1c (%)
<6
6-6.4
>6.4
In this article, we're going to look at just how "normal" those normal levels are - according ...
In the next two articles we're going to discuss the concept of "normal" blood sugar. I say concept and put normal in quotation marks because what passes for normal in mainstream medicine turns out to be anything but normal if optimal health and function are what you're interested in.
Here's the thing. We've confused normal with common. Just because something is common, doesn't mean it's normal. It's now becoming common for kids to ...
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