While a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is primarily for patients with diabetes to help them keep track of their blood-sugar levels, an increasing number of people who are not diabetic are using the devices to assist them in making changes to their diets.
“We never know how people are going to react to different foods, so wearing a CGM can help guide them with their choices,” said Vijaya Surampudi, MD, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine in the UCLA Health Division of Human Nutrition.
Even if someone does not have diabetes, they may have a degree of insulin resistance or may be on the pre-diabetes spectrum where certain foods can push their blood sugar to unhealthy levels.
Food can have a major influence on glucose levels, but it is not the only trigger that can affect your blood sugar. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites multiple factors that can impact your glucose levels:
- Lack of sleep: If you’re not getting good sleep, your body can use insulin less effectively.
- Coffee: Some coffee drinkers may not know that their blood sugar levels are sensitive to caffeine.
- Dehydration: Glucose levels are more concentrated when your body doesn’t have enough water.
- Exercise: Some forms of cardiovascular exercise can lower glucose levels, while some high-intensity and weightlifting exercises can raise it.
- Skipping breakfast: If you regularly skip breakfast, your glucose levels can rise after lunch or dinner.
- Stress: A rough day at the office or a contentious argument with a friend or spouse can increase blood sugar levels.
The Cons of Non-Diabetics using a CGM
Wearing a CGM may help someone who is not diabetic make informed nutritional choices, but it also has the potential to cause users to become overwhelmed and misled by the results. Recent research suggests if you’re measuring your blood sugar after each meal — and are not a diabetic — you might be following very misleading information.
There are two big problems:
- Blood sugar fluctuations after a meal are completely normal. When you eat, your blood glucose will likely change and increase, even if you’re eating healthy foods. What’s important is that your blood sugar doesn’t stay elevated. If blood sugar doesn’t change for a diabetic, it can mean a big problem. But it doesn’t mean anything if it rises and falls for a non-diabetic. To date, no studies show that short-term glucose spikes cause hormonal issues, chronic inflammation, aging, or disease.
- More importantly, the latest study suggests that when people eat the exact same meal — and all other variables are controlled — the CGM provides very different outputs for how it influences your blood sugar.
Wearing a CGM for self-experimentation is a personal choice and people need to find what works for them, preferably after consulting with their physician. But there’s no need to react or stress about every food that changes your blood sugar (if you did that, you might never eat fruit again). Many health professionals worry that obsessing over every meal can lead to unhealthy behaviors.
In addition, CGMs don’t always generate completely accurate readings because the sensor measures glucose levels only in the interstitial fluid between skin layers, not in the bloodstream. Nonetheless, Dr. Surampudi said the devices are still effective.
“The most accurate thing we have for measuring exact glucose levels are actual blood draws,” Dr. Surampudi said. “But when we’re talking about trends and patterns, a CGM does a great job.”
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