1. The Importance of Postprandial Blood Glucose Monitoring
Postprandial (after-meal) blood glucose is a crucial indicator of how effectively our body’s insulin responds to the food we eat, especially carbohydrates. Measuring and managing post-meal blood sugar against a consistent standard is essential for reducing glycemic variability and preventing complications.
2. Why is the ‘Start of the Meal’ the Standard?
– The Beginning of Digestion: Our body’s digestive process and the rise in blood sugar begin the moment we put food in our mouths and start chewing, not after we have finished eating.
– A Standardized Benchmark: People’s meal times can vary; one person might take 10 minutes, another 30. If the ‘end of the meal’ were the standard, the measurement time would differ for everyone, reducing the consistency of the results. Therefore, to allow everyone to compare and evaluate their blood sugar changes under the same conditions, the ‘time of the first bite,’ or the ‘start of the meal,’ is used as the international standard.
3. The Correct Measurement Method
For example, if you started lunch at 12:30 PM and finished at 1:00 PM, your 2-hour post-meal blood sugar should be checked at 2:30 PM (2 hours after you started), not at 3:00 PM (2 hours after you finished).
4. The Peak of Blood Sugar
Generally, blood sugar reaches its peak between 1 and 1.5 hours after starting a meal and then gradually begins to fall due to the action of insulin. Measuring the 2-hour level is to check if our body is adequately handling the peak blood sugar and bringing it back toward a normal range.
Summary: For consistent and accurate post-meal blood sugar management, the correct method is to use the ‘time the meal started’ as the benchmark for the 2-hour measurement, not the time the meal ended.
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