When you have type 2 diabetes, there are so many numbers to remember and none of them are your age! There are those daily blood sugar levels, three monthly HbA1c percentage… really important numbers you, as a diabetic, need to know.

Most people with type 2 diabetes monitor their blood sugar level daily. The blood sugar level you are striving for is:

• less than 120 mg/dL (6.7 mmol/L) according to many health care providers
• around 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L) if you want to be really super.
• any number lower than 100 mg/dL (5.5 mmol/L) is considered normal
• many astute health care providers encourage their patients to keep them in the 70 to 85 mg/dL (3.9 to 4.7 mmol/L)

Some studies show blood sugar levels higher than 85 mg/dL (4.7 mmol/L) and above are at an increased risk for heart disease.

While you take these blood sugar readings daily, your health care provider is interested in another number… that of the HbA1c measurement. This number helps you to adjust your food and exercise and helps your health care provider with adjusting your medications. Of course, you are looking for a level less than 6.0%. The HbA1c gives you an average of your blood sugar over the last three months.

Doctors at the University of California, Irvine are now toying with the idea that another type of glycated molecule, glycated albumin, could be used in a new lab test to determine short-term indicators of how well diabetics are doing. The doctors reported in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science & Technology that glycated albumin has a definite relationship to diabetic complications such as kidney damage and coronary artery disease.

Other studies have shown that glycated albumin is important in detecting short-term changes in blood sugar control, and the test is highly recommended to be used when looking for a glycemic indicator in pregnant mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Researchers also commented that the use of this test could save on health care costs.

So look for it in the next few years! It could save you a lot of time and suffering by knowing how well you are progressing on a month-by-month basis. Instead of waiting three months for results showing the indicator of how much damage has occurred… you could find out in a month and correct the cause. The more you control your blood sugar levels, the less risk you have of developing complications.

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