The reason you get different answers is that there is not a clear consensus.The "two hour" after a meal mark, I think, comes mostly from one
of the definitions of diabetes (serum glucose level more than 200 mg/dl [22.2 mmol/l] at the two-hour mark during a
formal
oral glucose tolerance test)
defines diabetes; if the value is more than 140 mg/dl [7.8 mm/l],
it defines
pre-diabetes.
In addition, for those patients on the rapid-acting insulins
(Novolog
or
Humalog),
given the onset (less than 15 minutes) and peak actions (approximately 90 minutes) of these insulins, it makes some
empiric sense to test the glucose two
hours after a meal to assess whether the
insulin-to-meal ratio was properly balanced/estimated.
There has been more written about over
the past years of the importance of "glucose excursions" after
meals in the overall scheme of diabetes management. So I think that is where the one hour after meals checks have come in.
So, depending on your own meal plan, activity levels, medication dosages, and preferences from your diabetes team, it may not make a clinically important
difference as to when you check glucose levels after
meals. However, I think that if you take NovoLog or Humalog (by injection or via a
insulin pump) with your meals, the two-hour check makes a bit more intuitive sense.
ids
I personally prefer to have my patients check their blood sugar one hour
after a meal. There are two reasons. First, I think it is more
convenient and less likely to be skipped. Secondly some patients have a
rapid spike in blood sugar that will return to normal by two hours. Thus,
there is a risk of missing some hyperglycemia.
owj
Please note that the timing of the one or two hours period typically starts with the first bite of the meal, but check with your diabetes team to see if that's what they want you to do.
ss
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