 "Glucose Tolerance Test: Here's why and when your doctor recommends it")
The glucose tolerance test (GTT), which measures the body's reaction to sugar or glucose, is frequently used to detect insulin resistance and diagnose type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. Finding out if diabetes is the cause of current symptoms is another benefit of the test.
Additionally, it can be used to detect gestational diabetes, which is associated with pregnancy, and is characterised by elevated blood sugar levels brought on by changes in the body's metabolism. But after the birth, they typically descend again.
Glucose Tolerance Test: What doctor has to say?
In an interview with The Indian Express, Dr. Manisha Arora, Director of Internal Medicine at CK Birla Hospital in Delhi, explained the purpose of the procedure to ascertain the rate at which glucose can be eliminated from the blood, also blood samples are taken every 30 to 60 minutes for up to three hours.
He stated, “This is normally indicated in diabetes to determine insulin resistance or during pregnancy and sometimes in reactive hypoglycemia, in specialised conditions like acromegaly. It is also done in some rare carbohydrate metabolic disorders”.
After the test, GTT examines any potential problems the body may be having with processing sugar after eating. To put it simply, the test determines whether the body's breakdown of food into sugar, which enters the body and is used for energy, is occurring too quickly.
What is the process of the Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT)?
Blood is first drawn to establish a person's baseline blood sugar level, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A vein, fingertip, or earlobe is used to extract the blood. To ensure appropriate outcomes, the patient must thereafter consume 75 grams of glucose.
The amount for kids is determined by their body weight. Blood is taken again after two hours and the blood sugar level is assessed if the test is being performed to confirm a suspicion of diabetes. In contrast, blood is taken for testing of gestational diabetes one hour after consuming the solution and then again two hours later.
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What is the diagnosis of the Glucose Tolerance Test?
• Within two hours, blood sugar levels return to normal in a usual scenario.
• Blood sugar levels are higher than normal but still below the diabetic range when a person has prediabetes or impaired glucose tolerance.
• Blood sugar levels are noticeably higher in those with diabetes.