Feedback please on my homemade oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)

[Ronancastled]

My recent Low carbing with weight loss & exercise had given me a HbA1c of 34 so I was well pleased.
I fancied doing a OGTT to see how I was getting on but didn't fancy drinking 800ml of Lucozade.
Shreddies ceral were to hand & handily 70g of carbs per 100g.
So I weighed out 110g of Shreddies, almost filled the bowl.
Took my fasting, then gorged them into me is 3 minutes then set the clock.
Now I did this during my work commute to minimise movement.

Results:
Fasting 4.7 (85)
30 mins 9 (162)
60 mins 13.3 (239)
90 mins 11.1 (200)
120 mins 8.7 (156)
150 mins 6.4 (115)

Now I wasn't surprised that that breakfast cereal spiked so hard after reading about the 57 Stanford students wearing CGM's after eating cornflakes.
https://www.futurity.org/blood-sugar-levels-glucose-1823122/
These are the actual glycemic profiles from that study.

I was slightly miffed I didn't get back below 7.8 (140) as I've eaten far bigger meals with 100+ carbs & been at 110 at the 2 hour mark.
I'm only 5 months since diagnosis so still early days, I reckon I was caught early & my HbA1c was 52 at the time.
I'm still obese & could move my fat ass far more.
Scary as it is to see those crazy high figures my body could still suppress them in a short time.

I would compare favorably enough to the poorer responders in this gastric banded cohort tested 3 years post remission.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4411432/

I wonder how representative of the test the cereal was & would pure glucose respond differently.
Obviously a more complex meal would flatten out the spikes as I've observed in my own readings.

Anyway, feedback welcome.

 

[sno0opy]

Interesting - i suppose the only difference is that Shreddies are likely to release the glucose slower then the concentrated solution you drink which gets into your system quickly.

The response is not too bad though, much better then many people would see from such a level of carbs. I might have to try this one and see how my results fair as im using the same method as you but perhaps a little head in terms of weight loss as im back into "healthy weight"

 

[bulkbiker]

Did you have them dry or did you add milk?
If milk did you add it in to the carb count?

 

[Ronancastled]

Did you have then dry or did you add milk?
If milk did you add it in to the carb count?

Oh yeah, about a 250ml. so say 12g of extra carbs.
I'm wondering how to interpret the delayed response, I've obviously still got insulin resistance issues but when it flow it puts the fire out fast.

 

[Ronancastled]

I might have to try this one and see how my results fair as im using the same method as you but perhaps a little head in terms of weight loss as im back into "healthy weight"

Please do as I'd like to see a comparison.
Use any cereal as long as you get the carbs right.
I see from your sig that we were both HbA1c 52 last October, you're my online twin.

 

[bulkbiker]

Please do as I'd like to see a comparison.
Use any cereal as long as you get the carbs right.
I see from your sig that we were both HbA1c 52 last October, you're my online twin.

These are my results from about2 1/2 years ago using Rapilose (the glucose drink)

 

[Bluetit1802]

This is nothing like an OGTT. There was fibre in the cereal, fat in the milk, protein in both, plus other additives. All these have an effect on blood glucose one way or another. If you want a true result you need to bite the bullet and do it with 75g of PURE glucose. In the UK we can buy this ready made (Rapilose), which is what our NHS uses. You also need to eat at least 130g carbs a day for 3 days beforehand or your results may be skewed in a bad way.
http://penlanhealthcare.com/products-rapilose-ogtt-solution
This website also gives the instructions on how to do the test.

 

[Ronancastled]

You also need to eat at least 130g carbs a day for 3 days beforehand or your results may be skewed.

Ok, right. Does the increased carbing days before make a big difference

 

[Bluetit1802]

Ok, right. Does the increased carbing days before make a big difference

It can do. If you normally follow a low carb way of eating your insulin production drops accordingly, which is what we should be aiming for. Then you suddenly give your body a big blast of carbs, the pancreas is taken by surprise, not enough insulin is produced initially to cope with this, so your blood glucose levels can shoot up higher than they would had the pancreas been given chance to wake up. That is simplifying it somewhat.

 

[Ronancastled]

It can do. If you normally follow a low carb way of eating your insulin production drops accordingly, which is what we should be aiming for. Then you suddenly give your body a big blast of carbs, the pancreas is taken by surprise, not enough insulin is produced initially to cope with this, so your blood glucose levels can shoot up higher than they would had the pancreas been given chance to wake up. That is simplifying it somewhat.

That does make sense of course.
I'm probably going to try this again around my year mark in October, this time using the correct solution.
Think I remember reading that beta cell capacity was almost back at maximum then too.
In the meantime I need to up my insulin sensitivity.
I've lost a lot of weight but maybe I need to include more upper body exercise.

 

[Ronancastled]

Further to this I've checked the milk and can confirm that 200ml contained 10g of carbs to add to the 77g in the Shreddies (actually Aldi Malted Wheats) so 87g in total. Just in case anyone wants to replicate exactly.

 

[Lamont D]

Just advice on how OGTT tests are perceived if not testing for T2, insulin resistance.

The problem with a one off test is you don't have a benchmark to work with.
Doing a test without data can lead to misinterpreting the results.

I've had six extended OGTT, the reasoning behind so many was too ensure the first results were controlled and the outcomes were the same for each tests, the last two were for a scientific research because of the rarity of my condition.

The reason glucose is used because of the reliability of the amount to find the best results.

Also be careful if you are testing alone!

 

[sno0opy]

Its still an interesting piece and since i have nothing better to do while im sat at home im currently testing having eaten the same bowl of aldi shreddies and milk (i did happen to have them in!). Results in a few hours heh

 

[Ronancastled]

Its still an interesting piece and since i have nothing better to do while im sat at home im currently testing having eaten the same bowl of aldi shreddies and milk (i did happen to have them in!). Results in a few hours heh

Delighted to hear that.
Good luck with your results.

 

[Ronancastled]

https://twitter.com/MacroFour/status/1235063210278932486?s=19

A tweet from a diabetic who passed an OGTT.
Not sure if he was taking Metformin though.

 

[sno0opy]

https://twitter.com/MacroFour/status/1235063210278932486?s=19

A tweet from a diabetic who passed an OGTT.
Not sure if he was taking Metformin though.

Ok so that was pretty interesting, got a bit of a double bump. I suspect the first bump was the "easy to get at" carbs in the cereal coming out - second one the harder to digest whole grain stuff coming out perhaps.

Either way, im pleased as the numbers reflect a level i wouldn't have thought possible when this all started - clearly not a proper comparable test against the glucose tolerance test but still of interest.

For reference im currently in a healthy BMI range from well into obese range and i dont KETO or Low carb as standard. HBA1C down from 87 to 33 since August.

0 5
15 5.2
30 5.8
45 7.2
60 6.7
75 6.5
90 5.8
105 5.5
120 5.2
135 7.3
150 6.4
165 6.1
180 5.9
195 5.1

This was eating the bowl very quickly and then sitting quietly for the 3 hours while testing.

 

[Ronancastled]

Amazing results. Normoglycemic youd have to say. Are you taking Metaformin as per your sig ?

 

[sno0opy]

I am currently still taking the morning dose - mainly because i haven't had my consultant appointment yet where i suspect they will ask me to drop it. Im not 100% sure how much if affects the results.

However im not sure if that is going to get canceled yet as it was for the end of April - with any luck i could maybe do a phone call.

Also i suspect if i ate that many carbs every day i would get worsening results, still going to stick to my smaller portions of carbs and keeping them mostly as whole grains.

 

[Ronancastled]

Further to my original post 2 months ago:

My weight loss/exercise had continued & I seem to have plateaued at 14st, that's 5.5st down from my diagnosis.

I'd noted how Prof Taylor had recorded a stepped increase in insulin response in his responders at 5 months & 12 months.
I noted how my FBG had come way down in the past few weeks & recorded a few 4's for the first time.
My postprandials have tumbled as well with many below 100 (5.6) at the 2 hour mark.
One night the family ordered pizza so I took the risk on 3 large slices, garlic bread, chicken dippers, half a box of chips & garlic dip, came in at 123 (6.8) at the 2 hour mark which I was most pleased with considering the level of carbs.
I realise my homemade Shreddies test does not replicate an OGTT but it had established a baseline for me so this morning I decided to repeat it.
Again it was during the work commute but this time I didn't have the opportunity to check at 15 min intervals so just have a fasting & my 2 hour result.
Fasting: 4.3 (77)
2 Hour: 4.6 (83)
I was shocked at this figure so I retook a sample within a minute & got the result pictured below.

Obviously the undershoot is a classic response to a high carb meal.
I would have been due back at the doctors for my 3 month bloods around now but obviously it's phone consults only for the foreseeable due to Covid.
I wont see an Endo for at least another 6 months so would appreciate some feedback from the forum on these unexpected results.
On another note my BMI has just moved from obese to overweight so double celebration.