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The Normal Fasting Glucose Level

Not long ago, a normal fasting glucose level was never a chief concern for very many people, as the main health worries of the day were heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure.

Sure there have always been diabetics, but in recent times the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has skyrocketed, even as the number of people diagnosed with heart disease, hypertension, and many forms of cancer have begun to decrease. If the current trend continues, diabetes and diabetes related issues may well become the most important health care concerns of the new millennia. This means that for a growing number of people, having a normal fasting glucose level is more important than ever.

The symptoms to watch for in cases where diabetes may be developing include increased thirst, increased hunger, increased urination, increased fatigue, blurred vision, and lightheadedness. If a person is experiencing two or more of these symptoms it may be time to schedule a test with their physician to determine if they are maintaining a normal fasting glucose level. This is especially true if there is anyone else in their family that has diabetes.

The most common glucose tolerance test is the oral glucose tolerance test, or OGTT. For the OGTT the patient is usually asked to fast for 8 to 10 hours. After the fasting blood glucose level is determined, the patient is given a solution to drink which contains a known quantity of glucose. The blood glucose of the patient is them measured at intervals to determine if their body is correctly metabolizing the glucose which has been ingested. The normal fasting glucose level is usually considered to be between 70 and 99 mg/dl and any reading outside this range may mean that more tests should be run and a possible diagnosis of diabetes.

What Are Normal Glucose Levels?

What are normal glucose levels? This is the kind of question that most people never ask. Most people could care less about blood glucose levels and live blissfully unaware of how glucose levels can affect health, unless they suddenly find themselves diagnosed with diabetes.

Heart disease, cancer, and stroke rates are all on the decline, but diabetes rates are rising at a staggering rate and an increasing number of people find themselves concerned with the question of, “What are normal glucose levels?”

In order to answer the question, “what are normal glucose levels?” one should first understand what glucose is and how it works. Glucose is basically what fuels every cell in the body. When we ingest sugars and carbohydrates the body metabolizes them into glucose which is actually a type of simple sugar. The glucose goes into the bloodstream where insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, causes the cells to “open up” so that the glucose can enter the cell and be used for fuel.

Without glucose the body would cease to function as surely as trying to run a car without gas, and higher than normal levels of glucose can damage many different body systems, causing kidney damage, heart problems, neuropathies, glaucoma, or even coma and death. Like most everything in medicine the answer to the question, “what are normal glucose levels?” may vary from patient to patient based on factors such as age, weight, other health conditions, and even exercise levels. Because of this, there are no hard and fast answers, but in most cases if you asked a doctor “what are normal glucose levels?” he would answer that normal glucose levels are usually between 60 and 110 in a normal person. If you check your sugar regularly and find that it is running higher than 110 or lower than 60 it is probably a good idea to stop asking “what are normal glucose levels?” and go see your doctor to find out if your body is metabolizing glucose correctly.