Why Glucose and Insulin Tests Matter
Key Takeaways
Blood sugar control is crucial for both short-term and long-term health.
The standard screening method for diabetes is fasting plasma glucose (FPG), which measures your blood sugar at a single point in time.
FPG often misses early cases of insulin resistance.
Other tests, including fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1c, and HOMA-IR, can provide a more comprehensive picture of metabolic health.
Over the long term, insulin resistance creates serious risks to your health and longevity.
Insulin resistance also impacts your cognitive performance and energy levels.
When detected early, insulin resistance can often be reduced through lifestyle changes.
Many workplaces include regular screening blood tests as part of an annual checkup. This helps to detect potential signs of health concerns at an earlier stage, when they’re easier to treat. In some cases, it’s even possible to take action to prevent a major health condition from developing.
Your body’s ability to control blood sugar is a crucial factor for your work performance and overall well-being, as well as your long-term health and longevity. In workplace blood tests, the most common measurement of this factor is fasting glucose.
Although changes in fasting glucose can definitely have a major impact on your health, this isn’t necessarily the best way to measure how well your body is processing blood sugar. In fact, the fasting glucose test can miss early warning signs of insulin resistance.
Why normal fasting glucose doesn’t necessarily mean low risk
The fasting glucose test (also known as fasting plasma glucose or FPG) measures the level of sugar (glucose) in your blood at a single moment in time. The FPG test is taken when you haven’t had anything to eat or drink (besides water) for at least 8 to 12 hours before the test.
A person’s blood glucose levels are constantly changing. Your glucose level will naturally rise after you eat, but glucose levels are also affected by many other factors. For example, stress can increase a person’s fasting glucose. If you take your blood test on a particularly stressful day, then your fasting glucose may be artificially high. By contrast, exercise causes a decrease in glucose levels, because working muscles take up a lot of glucose from the blood. Even just walking quickly to the testing site could lower your blood glucose level.
Studies have shown that the same person’s fasting glucose can vary considerably from day to day. Blood glucose levels are affected by so many different factors, and can change so rapidly, that a single measurement of your glucose level doesn’t really provide a complete picture of how your body processes sugar.
In addition, a rise in fasting glucose is actually a relatively late sign of an impairment in your body’s ability to process sugar. A hormone called insulin normally rises after you eat, and triggers cells throughout the body to take up glucose from the blood. When the cells begin to develop insulin resistance, they’re no longer as sensitive to insulin as they used to be.
At first, the body responds by producing more insulin. This prevents glucose levels from rising. At this point, a person’s fasting glucose will be normal, even though they have insulin resistance. Only after insulin resistance becomes more severe, and the body’s pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance, then the fasting glucose levels start to rise. As this condition progresses, it can develop into type 2 diabetes.
Detecting insulin resistance early can allow you to take action to greatly reduce your risk of progressing into type 2 diabetes. However, the FPG test isn’t the best way to do this, since it can’t detect the early signs of insulin resistance.
Understanding key biomarkers
While fasting glucose doesn’t provide a complete picture of your body’s ability to control blood sugar, there are other tests that can provide more information. Combining the results of these tests gives a more comprehensive assessment of your metabolic health.
HbA1c
When blood glucose levels are high, the glucose starts to react to proteins in the blood. Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells, and is used to carry oxygen in the blood. When glucose reacts with hemoglobin, it creates a form known as hemoglobin A1c, or HbA1c.
The process of forming HbA1c is irreversible. However, within the body, red blood cells are constantly being replaced. The lifespan of an individual red blood cell is about three months. Because of this, HbA1c testing provides a way to measure a person’s average blood sugar level over a three -month time span.
Unlike fasting glucose, which measures glucose at only a single point in time, HbA1c provides a longer-term view of your body’s ability to process glucose. Besides being used to screen for and diagnose pre-diabetes insulin resistance or diabetes, periodic testing of HbA1c is also used for monitoring in people with these conditions, to guide lifestyle changes and treatment.
Fasting insulin
As described earlier, when insulin resistance first begins to develop, the body responds by making extra insulin. Because of this, a rise in fasting insulin levels is often the first sign that insulin resistance is developing.
Studies have shown that high fasting insulin levels are associated with a significantly increased risk of later developing metabolic syndrome or diabetes.
Learn More: Insulin and Fasting Insulin
HOMA-IR
HOMA-IR stands for Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance. HOMA-IR is not exactly a test in itself. Instead, it’s a mathematical model that uses your fasting glucose level and fasting insulin level to determine severity of insulin resistance.
A low HOMA-IR score means that your insulin sensitivity is likely normal, and your body is able to process glucose. An increase in HOMA-IR indicates that insulin resistance is beginning to develop, and your body is producing more insulin than expected in order to keep your blood sugar under control. However for different patient populations, the HOMA-IR cut-offs for normal is different, and so it is important to discuss the results with your doctor.
Why these markers matter for your health
Insulin resistance is a precursor to type 2 diabetes. If insulin resistance is not addressed in its early stages, then it may continue to get worse. Over time, there’s a significant risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which can cause devastating and even fatal health issues.
People with type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk for vision loss, limb loss, kidney disease, heart disease, and dementia. Their lifespan is also shorter than for those without diabetes.
Fortunately, insulin resistance can be reducedis. The earlier the condition is detected, the greater the chances that you’ll be able to reduce it or even reverse it, and thereby avoid developing type 2 diabetes. Metabolic health testing allows you to detect insulin resistance as early as possible, so you can take action to avoid serious damage to your health and longevity.
How your test results can be used to create an action plan
If you have insulin resistance, this can have a significant impact on both your short-term and long-term health. However, it’s not an irreversible condition. There are many actions you can take to help restore your body’s insulin sensitivity, and thus reduce insulin resistance or even reverse insulin resistance. Nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management are some of the major factors that can make a difference. In some cases, supplements or medications might be recommended.
The key is early detection. The earlier insulin resistance is detected, the greater the chances that you can address the problem before significant damage to your body occurs. The fasting glucose test that you receive at your standard health screening is likely to miss the early signs of insulin resistance, but more comprehensive metabolic testing methods are better able to find this serious condition in its early stages, when it’s easier to take action and reverse it.
NOVI’s Assessment Max includes advanced metabolic tests that help detect insulin resistance early, giving you the insights you need to stay healthy, focused, and energized at work.
Take charge of your blood glucose
For a holistic diabetes management program, NOVI Magnum, can help. With NOVI Magnum, you get:
Real-time blood sugar data. Get continuous glucose readings in real time to see how your body responds to food, activity, and stress. You’ll discover what triggers your spikes and how to prevent them.
Personalized insights by your doctor and coach. Your dedicated doctor and dietitian will craft a holistic plan covering medication, nutrition, and fitness, built around your unique health goals.
Build accountability and habits. Your health coach will guide you with a personalized, evidence-based plan and ongoing reviews, helping you form sustainable habits that last.