Home
- Support on the Diabetes Journey
You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
See if you qualify for our free healthcare professional magazines. Click here to start your application for Pre-Diabetes Health, Diabetes Health Pharmacist and Diabetes Health Professional.
Latest Blood Glucose Articles
Popular Blood Glucose Articles
Highly Recommended Blood Glucose Articles
Never a
SMBG is helpful to patients because it increases their sense of control and provides nuanced information that allows them to finely hone their diabetes management.
"Self-monitoring blood glucose" (SMBG), a staple in the lives of most people with diabetes who take insulin, involves consistently monitoring and recording blood glucose levels before and after specific activities, such as eating, exercising, sleeping, and taking insulin. By observing the effects of certain foods and activities on their blood glucose levels, patients can learn exactly what works to raise or lower them. Thus, SMBG affords a kind of "fine tuning" approach to diabetes that empowers patients to adjust their medicine, modify their behavior, and manage their disease without always needing expert intervention.
So it's hardly surprising that an international study sponsored by Roche Diagnostics has confirmed that SMBG is a useful tool.
The study, published by SAGE Publications in The Diabetes Educator, looked at the SMBG practice of "paired testing," in which people with diabetes measure their blood glucose levels before and after specific activities to see how modifications in those activities might lead to better BG management. The researchers, located in five far-flung locations-Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, and Washington, DC-found that SMBG is helpful to patients because it increases their sense of control and provides nuanced information that allows them to finely hone their diabetes management.
The researchers also looked into the possibility that non-insulin-taking type 2s could benefit from SMBG. Because about 40 percent of type 2 patients are treated with oral drugs or through diet, constant self-monitoring of blood glucose has not been thought to be necessary. Even type 2s who take a combination of oral medications and a daily dose of long-acting insulin are not required to take anywhere near the number of self-administered BG tests that SMBG usually calls for. Given the depth of information and sense of control that SMBG affords, however, even type 2s who do not use insulin may soon hear their healthcare professionals recommending SMBG as part of an aggressive approach to managing type 2.
* * *
Sources:
The Diabetes Educator Research Article
Categories: Blood Glucose, Blood Sugar, Diabetes, Insulin, Research, Type 1 Issues, Type 2 Issues
You May Also Be Interested In...
Click Here To View Or Post Comments
1 comment -
Oct 13, 2009
-
Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
-
Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
Email to a Friend
Send a link to this page to your friends and colleagues.