For individuals living with Type 2 diabetes, managing blood sugar levels can feel like walking a tightrope. The delicate balance between medication, diet and lifestyle often leaves many feeling uncertain about their food choices.
But what if there was a simpler way to gain clear insights into your body’s sugar – or glucose – patterns and make informed decisions about your favourite foods?
To help those with Type 2 diabetes better manage their condition, Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre is a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system that is prick-free1 and makes sugar readings easier to obtain with on-demand2, 3 results via an app on your phone4.
Attached to the back of your arm, the discreet5 sensor allows you to use the FreeStyle LibreLink app4 to scan for current glucose readings, with a trend arrow that shows where your sugar level is heading.
Understanding the importance of monitoring sugar levels
The World Health Organization defines diabetes as “a chronic, metabolic disease characterised by elevated levels of blood glucose, which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves”.
When we eat, foods such as carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars and the pancreas releases enough insulin to match our intake. The insulin works like a key – it is able to “unlock” the millions of cells within our body so that they can use this sugar as energy. However, for people living with diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin and the blood sugars pile up in the bloodstream as there are not enough “keys” for the cells to use.
This condition could lead to prolonged high sugar levels (also called hyperglycaemia) in the bloodstream. Over time, this can damage large and small blood vessels and tissues in the body, leading to a variety of possible long-term complications. These may include large vessel damage like stroke and heart attack, and small vessel damage like retinopathy (eye), neuropathy (nerve) and nephropathy (kidney).
According to Diabetes Singapore, healthy individuals typically have fasting sugar levels of between 4.0 and 5.4 mmol/L, and up to 7.8 mmol/L two hours after eating. Those with diabetes should aim for a blood sugar level of between 4 to 7 mmol/L before meals, and under 8.5 mmol/L after meals. Hence, monitoring sugar levels and making sure they stay within target could help reduce the risk of these serious long-term complications, says the Ministry of Health, with diet being an important part of diabetes management even for those already on medication.
While traditional blood tests such as HbA1c are usually done in the clinic, these alone do not provide a complete picture of a person’s glycaemia (sugar levels), says SingHealth in an article. The HbA1c offers an average glucose level over the last two to three months.
SingHealth adds that CGM provides a detailed view of a person’s glycaemia and is a valuable complement to HbA1c, as it helps to identify the specific periods of the day when glucose levels fluctuate.
Making constant glucose monitoring a way of life
According to clinical studies, Abbott found that glucose monitoring is associated with better outcomes6, 7, 8 for those living with diabetes and helps manage glucose levels better to reduce diabetes-related complications.