DiamondAsh
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 641
- Location
- Walsall
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Disregard for authority. Noise.
Beta Cells Die Off in People Whose Fasting Blood Sugar is Over 110 mg/dl (6.1 mmol/L)
An intriguing study shows the severe organ damage experienced by people whose blood sugar falls into a range most doctors consider to be near-normal. A team of researchers autopsied the pancreases of deceased patients who were known to have had fasting blood sugars that tested between 110 mg/dl and 125 mg/dl within two years of their deaths. The researchers found that these patients, whose blood sugar was not high enough for them to be diagnosed as diabetic, had already lost, on average, 40% of their insulin-producing beta cells.
Since the American Diabetes Association believes that a fasting blood sugar level of 100 mg/dl to 125 mg/dl corresponds to a 2-hour glucose tolerance levels of 140 mg/dl to 199 mg/dl, this suggests that patients whose post-meal blood sugars rise only to the non-diabetic "impaired" level may be well on the way to losing as much as 40% of their beta cell mass. It also suggests that people with abnormal glucose tolerance who wish to avoid further beta cell loss should try to keep their blood sugars under 140 mg/dl at all times.
However, it is important to understand that in any study that measures only fasting blood sugar and finds a correlation with complications, it isn't the fasting blood sugars that are doing the damage when they are under 140 mg/dl.
The reason slightly elevated fasting blood sugars correlate with beta cell destruction is that people with slightly elevated fasting blood sugars who eat high carbohydrate meals are experiencing high, and often long lasting, blood sugar spikes after each meal they eat. A 210 lb person whose fasting blood sugar is 110 needs to eat only 12 grams of carbohydrate to raise their blood sugar to 150, and most of them are likely to be eating 50 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per meal, ensuring that their blood sugars are well over 150 for several hours after each meal.
It is those high post meal readings that go along with elevated fasting levels that cause the glucose toxicity that damages organs and causes complications.
Beta-cell deficit and increased beta-cell apoptosis in humans with type 2 diabetes. Butler AE, Janson J, Bonner-Weir S, Ritzel R, Rizza RA, Butler PC.Diabetes. 2003;52:102-110.
An intriguing study shows the severe organ damage experienced by people whose blood sugar falls into a range most doctors consider to be near-normal. A team of researchers autopsied the pancreases of deceased patients who were known to have had fasting blood sugars that tested between 110 mg/dl and 125 mg/dl within two years of their deaths. The researchers found that these patients, whose blood sugar was not high enough for them to be diagnosed as diabetic, had already lost, on average, 40% of their insulin-producing beta cells.
Since the American Diabetes Association believes that a fasting blood sugar level of 100 mg/dl to 125 mg/dl corresponds to a 2-hour glucose tolerance levels of 140 mg/dl to 199 mg/dl, this suggests that patients whose post-meal blood sugars rise only to the non-diabetic "impaired" level may be well on the way to losing as much as 40% of their beta cell mass. It also suggests that people with abnormal glucose tolerance who wish to avoid further beta cell loss should try to keep their blood sugars under 140 mg/dl at all times.
However, it is important to understand that in any study that measures only fasting blood sugar and finds a correlation with complications, it isn't the fasting blood sugars that are doing the damage when they are under 140 mg/dl.
The reason slightly elevated fasting blood sugars correlate with beta cell destruction is that people with slightly elevated fasting blood sugars who eat high carbohydrate meals are experiencing high, and often long lasting, blood sugar spikes after each meal they eat. A 210 lb person whose fasting blood sugar is 110 needs to eat only 12 grams of carbohydrate to raise their blood sugar to 150, and most of them are likely to be eating 50 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per meal, ensuring that their blood sugars are well over 150 for several hours after each meal.
It is those high post meal readings that go along with elevated fasting levels that cause the glucose toxicity that damages organs and causes complications.
Beta-cell deficit and increased beta-cell apoptosis in humans with type 2 diabetes. Butler AE, Janson J, Bonner-Weir S, Ritzel R, Rizza RA, Butler PC.Diabetes. 2003;52:102-110.