How Much Blood Sugar Is Normal on an Empty Stomach and After Meals, and How Much Means Diabetes, Specialist Explains

Blood sugar levels in our body do not stay the same throughout the day. They can rise or fall for various reasons, including dietary habits, physical labour, sleep patterns and mental stress.

The number of people with diabetes and pre-diabetes is currently increasing worldwide. As a result, many people keep a glucometer at home and regularly test their blood sugar levels.

Ashis Mitra, a diabetes and metabolism specialist from Kolkata, India, has given an idea on this subject.

Two important tests for measuring blood sugar levels are fasting blood sugar and post-prandial blood sugar. The fasting test requires not eating for at least eight hours. It gives an idea of how the body controls blood glucose levels in a state of not taking food.

The post-prandial, or after-meal, blood sugar test is done two hours after eating. This test shows how effectively the body can control the glucose produced from food.

According to the list given by Dr Ashis Mitra, fasting blood sugar below 110 is normal. Between 110 and 125 it is pre-diabetes, and reaching 126 it is diabetes.

In a test after eating, mainly two hours after lunch, a level below 140 is normal. Between 140 and 199 it is pre-diabetes, and above 200 it signals diabetes.

In the HbA1c test, the average sugar level of the last three months, 5.7 percent is listed as normal, 5.7 to 6.4 percent as pre-diabetes, and reaching 6.5 percent as diabetes.

Dr Ashis Mitra advises that people should try to keep fasting blood sugar between 90 and 110 and after-meal levels between 140 and 160.

He has said that those who test sugar at home with a glucometer should not test only once a day. They should test at different times and observe the fluctuations in blood sugar.

As a reason, he has said that in some patients, even though fasting and full-stomach sugar levels were normal, HbA1c was found to be above 6.5 percent. Testing only after lunch does not give a complete idea; if the level rises after breakfast or dinner, it cannot be known without testing.

Therefore, sugar should be measured two hours after every meal, or in rotation after meals, not just at one mealtime, the doctor has said.

He has also warned about hypoglycaemia, meaning sugar levels lower than normal. According to him, if sugar drops to 70 it is hypoglycaemia, so it needs to be kept above 80 at all times.