Glucose is a substance derived from certain foods that your body uses as a primary energy source. If you have too much or too little glucose in your bloodstream, you can experience significant negative health consequences. After you eat a meal, your blood glucose normally falls within a relatively narrow range, as measured by a glucose test.
Glucose Basics
Your body maintains appropriate levels of glucose in your bloodstream with insulin and glucagon, two hormones secreted by your pancreas, according to EndocrineWeb. When you eat, increased amounts of glucose in your bloodstream cause your pancreas to release insulin. In turn, insulin sends chemical signals that allow the cells in your body to pull glucose from your blood; insulin also encourages the storage of excess glucose in your liver. Between meals, your blood glucose level naturally decreases. When it falls below a certain point, your pancreas releases glucagon, which sends chemical signals to your liver that tell it to release its supply of stored glucose.
Normal Levels
Normally, the combined effects of insulin and glucagon keep your blood glucose between 70 and 110 milligrams per deciliter of blood, or mg/dL, EndocrineWeb reports. After you eat, however, the processing of food inside your body naturally increases glucose levels for a period of one to three hours. During this window, your blood glucose may safely rise as high as 179 mg/dL. If your glucose consistently rises above this level, you may have a condition called hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar. If your glucose consistently rises above 200 mg/dL during a glucose test, this is a clinical marker for a diagnosis of diabetes.
Normal Levels for Diabetics
If you have diabetes, controlling your blood glucose is vitally important to preserving your health, EndocrineWeb notes. As part of this goal, you will need to check your glucose before meals. Prior to eating, your blood glucose should fall in a range between 70 and 130 mg/dL. Your doctor may also require you to check your blood glucose after meals. If this is true for you, your glucose should fall below 140 mg/dL one to two hours after eating.
Diagnostic Testing
Your doctor may check your blood glucose for a number of reasons, according to the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's Lab Tests Online. Examples here include routine health screenings and the presence of notable symptoms of abnormally low or high blood sugar. Your doctor may also order testing if you have a family history of diabetes, or have other potential diabetes risks such as excess body weight or advancing age. While testing may be done after a meal, official identification of diabetes or related conditions requires testing after you've fasted for a period of at least eight hours.
Personal Testing
If you've been diagnosed with diabetes, you can check your post-meal blood glucose with a personal glucose monitor, the American Diabetes Association reports. Use of a glucose monitor requires a small blood sample drawn from your finger, forearm or thigh. Your monitor measures the glucose content in this sample and displays the results.
