Fruit salad and blood sugar meters don't mix
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hOOp3B Diabetes Care, online January 31, 2011.
Published February 09, 2011
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Listen up, diabetics: invisible bits of fruit on your hands can mess up your finger-prick blood tests, making your blood sugar level look higher than it really is.
That's because sugars from fruit will stay on your fingers until you wash them with tap water, a new study shows.
Even alcohol swabs don't solve the problem.
The researchers say that peeling fruit right before you use a blood sugar meter, or eating some juicy fruit with your hands, could lead to an inaccurate reading even if you rub your finger with alcohol first.
Blood sugar meters work by taking a drop of blood from the tip of the finger and testing the sample for how much sugar is in the blood. Many people with diabetes have to use these meters a few times a day to monitor their blood sugar levels and determine how much insulin to take.
Getting an inaccurate reading from sugar on the outside of the finger "could lead somebody to take insulin when they don't need it," Cohen said. "They could run the risk of running a low sugar from having misleading data."
The message, the authors say, is to wash your hands before using a blood sugar meter and not rely on alcohol swabs, especially if you've been handling any fruit.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hOOp3B Diabetes Care, online January 31, 2011.
MY THOUGHTS
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