Does monitoring blood sugar have any advantages for healthy individuals?
Blood sugar monitoring has joined the trend of tracking sleep and activity, and according to some longevity experts, lowering variations during the day can help prevent heart disease, even in those without diabetes.
Small gadgets called continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, track blood sugar levels in real time and can provide users with information about how their bodies are responding to stress, food, sleep, and exercise. Newer models can pair with a smartphone to provide blood sugar readings all day long and attach to the user’s arm. Since their first approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999, CGMs have only historically been prescribed to individuals with diabetes.
Two blood sugar monitors have recently been cleared by the FDA for over-the-counter usage, allowing anyone without a prescription to use them. Because of this, people without diabetes are increasingly endorsing them on social media platforms like Reddit to aid in weight loss or to track the advantages of physical activity.
Despite not having diabetes, 30-year-old Los Angeles realtor Shannon Sackley has been wearing a blood sugar monitor for a few months after seeing a friend with the disease use one.
“I find it fascinating and simply incredible that you can observe the impact of food on your body,” she remarked. It’s incredibly useful to have, in my opinion.
Diabetic patients previously had to use painful, frequent finger pricks to check their blood sugar levels, which only provided a moment-in-time glucose readout. A drop of blood from a finger prick is fed into a machine to determine blood sugar levels.
Finger pricking is like trying to fly an airplane while wearing a blindfold, said Dr. Michael Natter, an endocrinologist at NYU Langone Health and a diabetic.
He said, “You don’t know your direction or how fast you’re going, but you know you’re in the sky and you’re going somewhere nearby.” Continuous glucose monitors are an amazing, ground-breaking tool.
What s a normal blood sugar?
According to a test known as fasting blood sugar, blood sugar levels can fluctuate throughout the day, although they are usually lower in the morning before meals.
According to Dr. Vijaya Surampudi, an endocrinologist and nutrition specialist at UCLA Health, a normal blood sugar reading during a fast is normally between 70 and 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).
Following a meal, food is broken down by our bodies into its constituent proteins, lipids, and carbs. Bread, rice, pasta, and other foods heavy in carbohydrates are directly turned to sugar, or glucose, which is subsequently taken up by the bloodstream.
According to Natter, it’s rather common for blood sugar levels to increase after meals. If the number increases too many, though, it might become an issue.
Anything under 140 is acceptable if the person is not diabetic, according to Surampudi. “The ideal level for someone with diabetes should be below 180,” she continued.
It goes beyond what we eat. Excessive stress has been connected to diabetes and can upset a person’s blood sugar balance. The National Sleep Foundation claims that blood sugar and sleep are closely related. Researchers discovered that lower total sleep time was associated with higher blood sugar readings on CGMs in a 2022 study of people without diabetes.
According to Natter, our bodies experience some level of stress when we don’t get enough sleep.
High levels of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline can result from that stress, and these hormones can raise blood sugar levels.
Should I be worried about blood sugar spikes?
According to Natter, there is currently little evidence on the benefits of monitoring blood sugar rises in non-diabetics. He pointed out that it’s difficult to determine what the results should be for a healthy individual because the devices weren’t made or calibrated for a population without diabetes.
According to him, we don’t fully understand how even the smallest changes in glucose affect peak performance.
A healthy person’s blood sugar levels fluctuate throughout the day, which is typical. Anxiety may arise from being overly aware of blood sugar rises.
According to Natter, blood sugar is a dynamic value that we examine. It shouldn’t be 100 throughout the day.
Blood sugar rises over the day startled Boston University researchers during a recent study including CGM on participants without diabetes.
The study’s lead author, Nicole Spartano, a researcher at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine who focuses on diabetes and weight management, stated, “We saw a lot more elevated glucose levels than I think we were expecting in people without diabetes.”
In particular, they discovered that even those without diabetes experienced blood sugar levels above 140 for three hours per day. The figures even rose above 180 for 15 minutes each day.
To put it another way, even healthy individuals may experience high blood sugar spikes, and it is still unknown if they could be harmful in the long run.
People will wear these devices when they become more widely available, and they may notice extremely high blood sugar levels and become rather concerned about them, Spartano said. It is hoped that individuals will be able to examine our data and contrast it with what they are discovering about themselves.
Are there any proven health benefits?
Experts concur that the availability of over-the-counter monitors has a significant potential benefit in identifying or maybe preventing diabetes in individuals with family histories. Users may be able to exclude certain meals from their diets after learning which ones cause blood sugar increases thanks to the sensors.
According to Surampudi, those who are attempting to avoid developing diabetes and have pre-diabetes may be quite interested in adopting this.
Diabetes often goes undiagnosed, and estimates indicate that 240 million people worldwide are unaware that they have the disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 9 million persons in the US alone fit the criteria for diabetes but were unaware of it.
If diabetes is not identified and treated promptly, it can be fatal. Untreated cases may result in severe wounds that may need to be amputated, kidney failure, and nerve damage.
Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition frequently associated with infertility, weight issues, and irregular or skipped periods, may also benefit from the monitors by avoiding long-term difficulties.
Insulin resistance is a problem for women with PCOS, according to Surampudi. They are attempting to find out which foods will not cause their blood sugar to rise and which ones they can eat.
Sackley stated that she believes the gadget has assisted her in adopting a healthier way of living.
She remarked, “I avoid dates because they are very high in sugar and healthy protein bars because they would cause an alarmingly high spike in my blood sugar levels.” Walking after meals and even rearranging the order in which she consumes various food types are additional adjustments.
Avoiding sugar spikes late in the evening has helped her sleep better and have more energy the following day. She has struggled with sleep issues her entire life.
Eating protein and veggies before carbs helps reduce blood sugar increases, according to research. This is believed to be because the stomach empties more slowly, which delays the rapid absorption of high blood sugar levels.