A1C is a blood marker for measuring blood sugar levels over time. This blood test is helpful when managing diseases like diabetes. Diabetes can lead to serious complications like nerve or eye damage, kidney disease, heart disease, stroke and premature death, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Knowing how to properly treat diabetes through healthy lifestyle choices and appropriate monitoring will help decrease diabetes symptoms and complications. Using A1C levels is a common way to monitor how well diabetes is controlled.
Anatomy
Diabetes is a problem with insufficient insulin, a molecule that allows glucose to enter the cells. Without enough insulin, glucose remains in the bloodstream, attached to red blood cells. Hemoglobin in a healthy blood cell helps bind oxygen and release carbon dioxide in the lungs. The hemoglobin is always a part of a red blood cell. Once hemoglobin A1C, or HbA1C, attaches to the hemoglobin, it remains there for the life of the red blood cell, which is approximately 120 days, according to Diabetes Health.
Attachment
Unused glucose remains in the bloodstream and goes through glycosylation, or the process of attaching to the hemoglobin, and does not let go. The more glucose there is left in the blood, the more the glucose attaches to the hemoglobin. High amounts of sugar in the blood lead to the symptoms of diabetes, including extreme thirst or hunger, fatigue and irritability, recurring infections, and slow-to-heal bruises or cuts, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Uses
Since the A1C is unused glucose and stays attached to the blood cells for the life of the cells, taking a blood sample will give a percentage of the number of glucose molecules that have attached to the cells. Since blood cells live for an average of 120 days, this percentage gives and idea of how well the blood sugar is being controlled over a period of 3 to 4 months. A healthy A1C level should be between 4 to 6 percent, according to Diabetes Health. Numbers higher than this may indicate poorly controlled diabetes or lack of appropriate treatment. This number should be checked once or twice a year, or more often if it is being used to check in on the progress of a treatment plan. The American Diabetes Association states that this test should be used in conjunction with daily home monitoring to make sure lifestyle changes are making a difference.
