Glucose Testing: Is Your Blood Sugar in the "Sweet Spot"?

While a simple blood glucose test can reveal immediate glucose levels, a hemoglobin A1C test provides a better picture of your average blood glucose during the past few months.

The Diabetes Management profile includes tests for fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and insulin, which may be elevated in people with type 2 diabetes.

Fasting insulin levels may be elevated in people with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, but they may be abnormally low for those with type 1 diabetes or advanced type 2 diabetes. This blood test measures fasting insulin to help diagnose insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

This comprehensive test panel evaluates risk factors associated with diabetes, including tests for glucose, hemoglobin A1c, insulin, a complete blood count/chemistry panel, magnesium, DHEA-S, cortisol and C-reactive protein.

This blood panel includes tests for fasting glucose and insulin, which are critically involved in the regulation of energy. Elevated values may be associated with metabolic syndrome, diabetes and other conditions.

C-peptide is produced in the pancreas and is an excellent marker to measure insulin levels. This test helps determine if too much or too little insulin is being produced by the pancreas and offers more information to support appropriate management and therapy.

A screen for diabetes and prediabetes, this test measures your levels of glucose, the sugar that the blood carries to the cells to supply them with energy.

This test measures glucose and insulin prior to glucose consumption and every hour thereafter for 3 hours--showing how your body responds after a meal.

The GlycoMark® blood test assesses glucose control after a meal and is often tested in conjunction with hemoglobin A1c. The results will help you understand how many blood sugar spikes you have had over the last 10 to 14 days.

Get a comprehensive understanding of your insulin resistence with this four-specimen glucose test, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), a four-specimen insulin test and an NMR Lipoprofile® that provides an insulin resistance score.

If you are living with diabetes and are looking to monitor your glucose levels, we recommend testing for fructosamine, which is believed to be a more sensitive marker of short-term glucose and can reflect diabetic control over a shorter time period of 2-3 weeks compared to 4-8 weeks for HbA1C.

This glucose tolerance test measures the amount of sugar (glucose) in your blood before and 1, 2 and 3 hours after consuming a drink that contains 75 grams of glucose. This provides an assessment of how the body handles glucose after eating.

This blood glucose test measures the amount of a type of sugar called glucose in your blood. Blood glucose levels that remain high over time can damage your eyes, kidneys, nerves and blood vessels.