Fasting blood glucose (FBG) is an extremely important lab test for identifying or managing pre-diabetes and diabetes, but it is far from the only important lab test to measure metabolic function. FBG represents a moment in time; it may have been a relatively good moment or a bad moment depending on how stressed you were, how you slept, your exercise levels, etc. Another marker called HbA1c (“Hemoglobin A1c”) actually tells us how regulated your blood sugars have been over the past 3 months, arguably a more important measurement.
Perhaps your healthcare practitioner tested both your FBG and HbA1c – this is excellent information. But did you have your fasted insulin levels tested too? If you haven’t had your insulin tested, we’re missing the other side of the equation.
We don’t know how hard your body has to work to regulate or achieve that blood sugar level. In other words, we don’t know if you have some level of insulin resistance.
In the most basic sense, insulin’s job is to lower blood sugar by telling cells to open up and take in glucose for energy production. Insulin resistance means that your cells don’t respond as well to the presence of insulin – you need more insulin to achieve an ideal blood sugar level. By using your FBG and fasting insulin values, there is an equation that your practitioner can use to determine your level of insulin sensitivity (or resistance). I have seen many patients with “normal” blood glucose readings but less-than-ideal insulin levels, so we can’t just assume that if FBG is fine then so is insulin.
Moreover, knowing whether you have early or late signs of insulin resistance isn’t just important for diabetes risk, but also weight gain, cognitive function, hormonal balance (ie polycystic ovarian syndrome; PCOS), cardiovascular disease and a number of other chronic health concerns. The take away point here is that, for optimal health and a proactive approach, you are going to want to have all three blood markers tested: fasting blood glucose, HbA1c and fasting insulin.
Speak with your Sprout Wellness practitioner for more information.
Dr. Colin O’Brien, ND
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