Fasting blood sugar

One of the most affordable blood tests is a fasting sugar test, which also bears the names fasting blood glucose test, FPG test, fasting plasma glucose and fasting blood test. When a person does not eat for more than 8 hours, physician may order this test to be done in order to determine the level of blood sugar and detect diabetes.

Principles Included in This Test

We will now see some of the principles involved in this test, which is simple in general. Glucagon is the name of a hormone that the pancreas produces when we do not eat, and the liver stimulation occurs due to this hormone. The liver releases sugar to the blood and the body will try to prevent occurring of hypoglycemia by producing insulin. But the insulin production will be impaired if you are a diabetic. So if you have diabetes, the level of blood sugar will stay high, and if you are healthy, it will be regulated. Food that we eat can give rise to the blood sugar level and this test can help us see if this is the case.

Procedure

This is a very simple procedure, but you will have to fast for 8 to 12 hours prior to the test. The test usually takes place in the morning, so remember to consult a doctor about the consummation of coffee, tea and similar beverages because some doctors may require that you do not consume any of it. Also, insulin injections should not be taken until the test is over. The arm vein is where the blood is drawn from and after this, the lab will perform test on this blood sample. Three groups, normal, pre-diabetic and diabetic fasting blood sugar, are used for dividing the results of the blood test.

Results

The results from 70 to 100mg/dl are normal and this would suggest that you do not have diabetes. But the pre-diabetic phase has the range of the fasting blood sugar from 101 to 126mg/dl. Diabetes will be shown by the results greater then 126mg/dl. Some diet alterations are needed for people who are diagnosed with pre-diabetes. They should reduce the intake of sugar in order to prevent the occurrence of diabetes. Foods with sugar are prohibited to those with diabetes. They may also need insulin injections but they will definitely have to alter their nutrition habits. Only this can monitor diabetes and reduce the symptoms of it. Diabetes is treated in number of ways, since every case is different. The test will determine if the levels of the glucose in the blood are high or low. The greatest effect of this test is that it can even detect the possibility of developing diabetes, so the person can alter life habits in time and avoid diabetes successfully in the future.