Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of
your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
Half of everything I read says to take a blood glucose reading one hour after meals to see how high it goes. The other half says to take it two hours after meals to make sure it returns to normal. I know that both pieces of information are important, but I also know that few, if any, people with diabetes take blood glucose readings at both times. Which is more important? Why?
Answer
Both the
American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the
American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)
recommend that most of us test two hours after eating. While blood glucose levels could be highest one hour after a meal, there are good reasons to wait until two hours.
The exception, according to the ADA, is women who have diabetes and are pregnant. They could benefit more from testing one hour after eating.
Should the counting start from the beginning, the middle, or the end of the meal? There is a great variation in the length of a meal. So it is more precise to start counting from the time of the first bite, Dr. Richard Hellman, the lead author of the AACE's Diabetes Medical Guidelines Task Force, told me. Another reason to start counting from the first bite is because our glucose levels begin to rise about 10 minutes after the start of a meal, an ADA statement says.
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