Why bother measuring blood glucose concentrations?

Someone we talked to today asked a good question. How does knowing one’s blood glucose concentration help a diabetic patient? The goal of diabetes management is to keep a diabetic’s blood glucose concentration with the normal values of 70-130 mg/dl – this is called glycemic control. If the patient manages to keep their glucose concentration in this range, then the patient can protect him or herself from the negative consequences of diabetes. Poor glycemic control means that the patient allows his or her glucose concentration to stay in the range of 200 to 500 mg/dl over several months. This can have severe health consequences.

Diabetics typically measure their blood glucose levels 4 to 5 times a day. This allows patients to act quickly to correct for swings in their glucose concentrations – for instance, if they find that their glucose concentration is too low, they can eat something sugary to prevent fainting, and if they find that their glucose concentration is too high, they can take an insulin pill. Thus, by knowing their own blood glucose levels on an almost hourly basis, diabetes can work to keep their own blood glucose levels within the healthy, normal range.