![]() ![]() Stress, medication, illness, and lifestyle can all have an impact as well. Glycated haemoglobin levels can be affected by more than just diet. If not properly treated, diabetes can cause serious health complications. What are the effects of HbA1c if levels are too high or too low?Īs we saw above, high levels of HbA1c rise in parallel with abnormally high blood levels of glucose. Years of research and testing suggest that a normal HbA1c level is 20 – 38 mmol/mol, indicating that the person has no current risk of developing diabetes. A mole or mol is a chemical unit used to indicate levels of a particular substance. You may see them quoted as a percentage for example, but mmol/mol or millimoles per mol has become the international standard. What are healthy HbA1c levels?ĭifferent metrics are used to measure HBA1c levels. Since a build-up of glucose in the bloodstream leads to the formation of HbA1c via glycation, blood tests which detect its presence can be used to help diagnose a patient with diabetes or prediabetes. If doctors detect the development of insulin resistance, they diagnose the patient with so-called ‘prediabetes’. Type 2 diabetes is an increasingly prevalent problem in the modern western world. This will stimulate the production of high levels of insulin which may have less and less effect over time. The second situation, dubbed Type 2 diabetes, can develop if an individual eats an unhealthy diet containing high quantities of sugar and carbohydrate-rich foods for an extended period of time. It is treated by daily insulin injections. Typically this is a lifelong disorder which first appears in childhood. The first situation is called Type 1 diabetes. If a person’s body becomes increasingly resistant to insulin over time, insufficient glucose will be metabolised and it will, again, accumulate in the bloodstream.If the pancreas fails to produce sufficient insulin, not enough glucose will be metabolised and it will therefore accumulate in the bloodstream. ![]() There are two circumstances in which this process can malfunction: The metabolisation of glucose is controlled by a hormone called insulin. Diabetes affects the metabolisation of glucose, a simple sugar which serves as a fundamental source of energy for the human body. We’ve all heard the word ‘diabetes’, but the specifics of this all too common disorder can be hazy. The principal cause of such glucose build-up is insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes. This chemical bonding – or glycation – occurs when blood glucose reaches a particular level over an extended period of time. Specifically, HbA1c is ‘glycated’ haemoglobin, meaning it has chemically bonded to glucose molecules. HbA1c is a variety of haemoglobin – the component of red blood cells responsible for circulating oxygen around our bodies. But what exactly are those? What is HbA1c? If you have diabetes or prediabetes and are at risk of developing diabetes, you may have heard your doctor discussing your ‘HbA1c’ levels – or even just your ‘A1C’ levels. ![]()
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