Normal Blood Sugar Levels and Diabetes

The aim of every diabetic

For many of us who are diabetic, to even get close to normal blood sugar levels would be an achievement, a triumph in fact, and for some just a dream.

Once diagnosed as having diabetes, becoming close to normal may be the best we can achieve, although many well known doctors specializing in the treatment of the disease insist it can be done, and even that the condition can be reversed with the right combination of exercise and diet, usually with the low carbohydrate content approach. But that’s a different topic that is worth discussing separately while we confine ourselves here to identifying normal blood sugar levels in the non-diabetic population and then perhaps compare them to our own.

The range of normal levels for blood glucose
In checking many sources, I found that that there is a variation in the values considered by some as normal.  But in the main I can summarize the results, including those published by the American and Canadian Diabetes Associations as follows, and where fasting is usually meant as an overnight 8-hour period without food or liquids other than water.

Fasting blood sugar levels measured after about 8 hours without food or drink other than water should be less than 108 mg/dL (6.0 mmol/L) but no lower than 72 mg/dL (4.0 mmol/L).

Two-hours after a meal blood sugar levels should be 90 to 144 mg/dL (5.0 to 8.0 mmol/L)

Within 3 hours after a meal they should be back to normal levels

Except for a two-hour period after a meal my own healthcare providers informs me that the blood sugar levels should be less than 108 mg/dL (6.0 mmol/L) and they should always be above 72 mg/dl (4.0 mmol/L). If you are a diabetic that will probably not be the case.

According to the American Diabetes Association, for a random test taken during the day they should be less than 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L). That sound high to me, but I found that in an ADA reference on normal blood sugars.

A1c – the 12 week period test
For a test that indicates the levels over a 12 week period, called the A1c, or Glycosylated hemoglobin test, the normal level is less than 6%. What that means is that less than 6% of the hemoglobin fraction in your blood has glucose attached to it. The hemoglobin content of blood, including water, is about 35% and it is hemoglobin that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body for use by the body’s cells.

For most diabetics: typical target  according to
the Canadian Diabetes association (CDA):

Fasting levels before meals target is 72 to 126 mg/dL (4.0 to 7.0 mmol.L)
Two hours after eating target is 90 to 180 mg/dL (5.0 to 10.0 mmol/L)
A1c level target is 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L)

Note: See at the end, variations of the above according to EASD results described below.

Making the blood test
The usual ways to measure blood glucose levels are either by using a small hand-held meter that measures a drop of blood by pricking the finger tip or, alternatively, through a clinical test, usually made after fasting overnight, in which a technician draws a small amount of blood from a vein into a vial that is then sent to a laboratory for analysis. Results from the two methods do differ to some degree but both provide the information required for the overnight fasting levels and the clinical test additionally provides values that indicate the glucose levels over the prior 12-week period. This test is called the glycosylated hemoglobin test, or A1c for short.

Blood glucose levels can vary in a non-diabetic adult depending on a person’s age. Children of various ages will differ in what is considered normal. Similarly pregnant women often have a higher level of glucose in their blood during pregnancy, but their target should be to stay as close to normal levels as possible to avoid the gestational form of diabetes.

Units of measure
The United States uses different units of measurement than does most of the rest of the world, Canada and the UK included, but converting to either system is simple. The U.S. uses milligrams per deciliter, shown as mg/dL. Dividing the U.S. values by 18 gives the value expressed in the other system of measurement, which is millimols per liter, written as mmol/L.

According to the American Diabetes Association
After checking with national diabetes association sources of major countries, I found it somewhat difficult to pin down an exact figure to establish normal blood sugar levels and that is understandable. The American Diabetes Association’s information site states that the blood sugar levels change throughout the day and night and will vary depending on your food intake, what you’ve eaten, how much, and when, and whether you have exercised in the recent period of time.

The ADA (American Diabetes Association) gives a fasting level of less than 110 mg/dl (6.1 mmol/L) as being normal and from blood tests taken at random times throughout the day they state a normal blood glucose range is in the low to mid 100’s. I assume that to mean from 110 to 150 mg/dL (6.1 to 8.3 mmol/L)

But Results of European Study announced in 2006 differ from the ADA
I discovered a very good report dating from September of 2006 of a lecture given at the annual meeting of the EASD (European Association for Studies in Diabetes) in Copenhagen that offered much detailed research on the subject of normal blood sugars. Reference was made to a study in which glucose was monitored in a group of adults and the results were summarized in a lecture by Professor J.S. Christiansen, illustrated with slides. There was also a substantial amount of other information of interest to diabetics covered at the meeting.

One of the slides showed graphically how the range of normal blood sugar levels peaked between about 7:30 and 8:30 am for a group of 24 young and healthy and not overweight adults. That one hour period was the time when the participants were served breakfast. For the rest of the day, between 6 am and midnight the levels averaged out within a few points either above or below 80 to 85 mg/dl (4.4 to 4.7 mmol/L) with no peaks that could reveal when other meals had been eaten. That seems low and a long way from my own but these participants were in their prime in their early 20’s, that’s not me.

From the foregoing it seems there is a difference of opinion among authoritative voices regarding the adult non-diabetic normal blood glucose levels and my own thoughts are influenced by the results mentioned above from the EASD meeting.

Doing so leads me to conclude that normal blood sugars for most non-diabetic people are:

Under 100mg/dl (5.6.mmol/L) with a peak of 120 mg/dl (6.7 mmo/L) after a proper breakfast and a return to normal within 2 hours after any meal if there has been a spike.

Caution and just for the record
Please Note: I am not a doctor or health care professional and my conclusions are arrived at from an intelligent perusal of available published material of which there is an abundance in existence, some of it conflicting. After considering as many reports as possible I usually prefer to depend on the values quoted by the major diabetes associations, the ADA in the USA, the CDA in Canada, and the NIH in the UK. Those, together with the EASD’s opinions and research results, give me the most confidence in publishing the information here on my own blogsite.

But I must add that there are a few other sources that seem to make scientific sense and that I can believe in and they do not necessarily totally agree at all times with some of the associations I have mentioned above.

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