What is a Fasting Blood Sugar Test?

A fasting blood sugar test estimates the quantity of sugar in your blood. It is also used to test the effectiveness of medicines or dietary changes in people diagnosed with diabetes. It is a safe and simple screening test used especially for prediabetes, diabetes, or gestational diabetes. A healthcare provider will take the blood sample by drawing from your arm or by finger pricking. As the name refers, 12 hours before the test, you are not supposed to eat or drink anything except water.

What is the Normal Fasting Blood Sugar Level?

A normal fasting blood sugar level of 90 to 110 mg/dL or lesser is the normal range.

Fasting Blood Sugar Level Chart

The following table shows target levels for those with and without diabetes.

Results	Fasting blood Sugar Test Level (mg/dl)
Normal	100 or below
Prediabetes	100 – 125
Diabetes	126 mg/dL

What Should be the Targeted Fasting Blood Sugar Levels for People with Diabetes?

Target fasting blood sugar levels for people with diabetes will vary depending on age. The following table shows the blood sugar levels based on the age of people with diabetes.

Age (years)	Fasting blood sugar in people with diabetes (mg/dl)
0 to 5	>80 to 180
6 to 12	>80 to 180
13 to 19	>70 to 150 mg/dL
20+	70 to 100
Pregnant women	70 to 89

Tips to Get the Targeted Fasting Blood Sugar Levels for People with Diabetes

Eating a healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, and continuing regular physical activity can help get the targeted fasting blood sugar levels. Other tips include:

• Frequent monitoring of your blood sugar levels will help to keep your fasting sugar within the normal range
• Always eat at regular intervals, and do not skip meals
• Choose food with fewer carbs and low in calories, saturated fat, sugar, and salt
• Track your diet intake
• Avoid sodas
• Limit alcohol
• Regular exercise in moderate will keep your blood sugar in control
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Taking insulin or medicine will keep your blood sugar levels within range.

Who Should Get Tested?

People with prediabetes, diabetes, and gestational diabetes at first have no symptoms. A person having diabetes is not aware of their condition. Your healthcare providers will recommend a fasting blood sugar test to check the levels of sugar in your blood. Here are the categories of people who should get a fasting blood sugar test:

• It is used for routine screening purposes to monitor a person’s blood glucose levels at regular intervals.
• To be certain that in pregnant women, hormones released during pregnancy are not causing diabetes.
• People who have heredity of diabetes, symptoms of diabetes, or a history of higher blood sugar levels than normal.
• People who are obese.

What are the factors that affect the Fasting Blood Sugar Test Result?

Several factors can affect your blood glucose levels. Since a fasting blood glucose test provides a baseline, it is important to understand how certain factors will rise or low your blood sugar levels the entire day.

Before getting any blood work done, talk to your doctor about how your everyday prescription medicines can alter your test results. Here are a few things that affect fasting blood glucose one should know about.

The following factors can raise blood sugar levels:

• Dehydration
• Lack of physical activity
• Not taking appropriate insulin or prescribed medications.
• Medication side effects such as steroids or antipsychotics.
• Overconsumption of food that is high in protein content.
• Sickness can cause your body to release certain hormones, affecting your fasting sugar.
• Stress can cause a release of hormones that raise blood glucose levels.
• Pain due to prolonged sunburn causes the body to produce hormones that lead to an increase in blood sugar levels.
• The menstrual cycle changes hormone levels.

The following as factors that can cause low blood sugar levels:

• Consuming less food, such as a meal or snack with fewer carbs than usual, or skipping meals.
• Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach
• Taking too much insulin or oral diabetes medications
• Side effects from other medications
• Vigorous physical activity 

For people with diabetes, a fasting blood sugar test in the morning can make them more conscious about managing blood sugar levels. Your healthcare provider will use the fasting blood sugar results and conduct relevant tests throughout the day to better understand your overall health parameters so that an appropriate target range of normal blood sugar levels can be ascertained.

Conclusion

It is very important to keep a check to maintain a healthy fasting blood sugar to manage diabetes. Managing blood sugar levels in people with prediabetes can help reverse the condition and prevent the development of diabetes. Getting regular fasting blood sugar tests is essential, especially in people who have diabetes and prediabetes. If you notice any changes or abnormal symptoms, talk to your doctor.

FAQs

Are there any risks with a fasting blood sugar test?

It is a standard test. It is safe and has no risk.

Can I do a fasting blood sugar test at home instead?

Nowadays, kits are available that make it easy to test blood sugar levels at home. However, these home kits are not for the diagnosis of diabetes. Home testing results are not that accurate when compared to a healthcare center. Several factors can affect the accuracy of the result, such as:

• Environmental factors like temperature, contamination of blood samples, etc. 
• You should always look for the expiry of the test kit. Do not use expired kits.
• Not sufficient blood samples for the test

These home-based tests are helpful for people who already have diabetes. It will keep a check on your blood sugar, and it will manage your fasting sugar levels.