What are Normal Blood Sugar Levels?

To find out your blood sugar levels usually requires a physician to requisition a blood test, called an A1c blood test, from an approved clinic and a laboratory analysis. The test involves a small amount of blood drawn from a vein in the arm by a health technician, a virtually painless procedure that takes less than a minute.

The most likely reason that you would need to know is because you are concerned about the possibility of becoming diabetic or pre-diabetic, a related condition that often leads to diabetes if not properly treated.

There are well-known symptoms that may have alerted you to the possibility of a diabetic condition. Or perhaps there have been cases of diabetes in the family and you know that there just may be a factor of heredity, among other reasons, for the onset of diabetes. Many scientists believed that to be a fact but it is questioned in some quarters.

The sugar in the blood is mainly a simple form of sugar called glucose that enters the bloodstream after food is processed in the stomach and passes through the digestive system. The glucose is an essential fuel for the body’s cells, without it, the metabolic activities that sustain life would be seriously impaired.

Blood sugar levels vary throughout the day, especially dependent on when foods were last consumed, and also depending on the amount and types of food eaten. Of the main nutrient sources, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, water, vitamins and minerals, it is the carbohydrate content of any food item consumed that is the primary source of blood sugars.

Target A1c blood sugar levels
The A1c tests blood test measures the percentage of glucose molecules in the blood at the time the blood was obtained. Blood cells are being produced constantly and have a lifetime of about 12 weeks, although some research suggests a few weeks longer. This means that some of the blood cells are just moments old and some of them are at least 12 weeks old and the rest have an age somewhere in between. There are 3 types of blood cells that contain a number of other substances, an important one in red blood cells being hemoglobin, a molecule that is responsible for carrying oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body. Another substance in the blood is glucose, molecules of which become attached to the hemoglobin molecules and those can be measured and determined, in percentage terms, by the A1c blood test.

According to the American Diabetes Association, the target for normal blood sugar levels in the A1c test is less than 6%, that is, no more than 6 percent of the hemoglobin molecules in the blood have glucose attached to them. That is where you should be to indicate that you are not diabetic.

For the person who is a diabetic, the target blood sugar level target to aim for is less than 7%. Many of those who do have diabetes have an A1c percentage that is much higher, often by several points if the diabetic condition is not well controlled.

Target levels for day-to-day blood sugar levels for non-diabetics
Blood tests for these do not require a clinical procedure but are usually determined by an individual with the aid of a small hand-held glucose-measuring device that merely requires the application of a small droplet of blood to a test strip.

As noted above, normal blood sugars vary throughout the day, the usual reference times and values to target for are:

Target fasting levels
A self-administered blood test, usually taken in the morning after an overnight’s sleep and a meal the evening before. For fasting blood sugar levels, the target is a glucose reading of less that 100 mgs per deciliter, which is equivalent to 5.6 mmols per liter. Mmols (millimols) per liter, uses the unit system adopted in most countries other than the United States.

In Canada, the target levels are set at 6.1 mmol/L, 109.8 mg/dL.

Target blood sugar levels for 2 hours after a meal

U.S. target levels are less than 140 mg/dL, 7.8 mmol/L
Canadian target levels are the same.

Much more in answer to the question “What are normal blood sugar levels?”, can be found at Normal Blood Sugar Levels — and for a wider coverage of diabetes check out Diabetes Information Exchange where articles can be accessed from a List of Topics.

In conclusion
Blood tests are required for many reasons in connection with health and wellness. The blood sugar levels are important to know when checking into the possibility of the presence of diabetes, a disease that is being diagnosed at an increasing rate in the United States that is being referred to by health professionals as being of epidemic proportions. It is hoped that your blood sugars are less than 6%, the upper ceiling for safety. The daily diet plays a major part in keeping them below that safe level.