A Short Walk After Eating: What It Changes for Blood Sugar
Walking after meals can reduce post-meal glucose excursions, but studies do not establish one ideal start time or a requirement to walk after every meal.
Wikis
HbA1c
HbA1c reflects longer-term glucose exposure through glycated hemoglobin, but red-cell lifespan and other factors can alter its relationship to average glucose.
1
related articles
Open in Explore
HbA1c, or hemoglobin A1c, is hemoglobin that has glucose attached to it through a nonenzymatic glycation process. Because red blood cells circulate for weeks to months, the proportion of hemoglobin present as HbA1c reflects average glucose exposure over a longer period than a single blood-glucose measurement .1
HbA1c is commonly reported as a percentage or in SI units of millimoles of glycated hemoglobin per mole of hemoglobin. It is widely used to monitor long-term glycemia and, under standardized conditions, can also be used in diabetes diagnosis. More recent glucose exposure contributes more strongly than older exposure because circulating red blood cells have different ages .1
HbA1c is not a direct measurement of today's glucose concentration. Anything that substantially changes red-blood-cell lifespan, hemoglobin structure, erythropoiesis, or some laboratory assay characteristics can alter the relationship between HbA1c and average glucose. This is why the value must sometimes be interpreted alongside direct glucose measurements and the clinical context rather than treated as an infallible estimate of mean glucose .1
References
- Ang SH, Thevarajah M, Alias Y, Khor SM Current aspects in hemoglobin A1c detection: a review. Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry. 2015. About this source DOI
From this collection
Articles