The glucose tolerance test measures how well the body metabolizes sugar to detect type 2 and gestational diabetes. Patients fast for eight hours before drinking a glucose solution and taking a blood test. Some people may experience discomfort or nausea.
A glucose tolerance test is a test that doctors use to measure how well the body is metabolizing sugar. When the body metabolizes sugar, it essentially breaks it down to use for energy. If the body doesn’t metabolize sugar as it should, the result could be diabetes. The glucose tolerance test can be used to detect type 2 diabetes, which is the most frequently diagnosed type of diabetes. It is also used to diagnose gestational diabetes, which is a type of diabetes that can develop during pregnancy.
Doctors do a glucose tolerance test to check for problems with how a person’s body handles glucose, which is blood sugar, after the person has eaten a meal. In preparation for the test, patients are typically asked to avoid eating and drinking anything for about eight hours before the test, although they should consume their normal diet until the eight-hour fasting period begins. Often, glucose tolerance tests are scheduled for first thing in the morning, allowing patients to fast overnight while they sleep.
Doctors perform the glucose tolerance test in stages. As a first step, the patient’s blood is drawn. A doctor may use a needle to draw blood from a vein or a medical device to prick a finger and draw a small amount of blood from there. This blood is then used to assess the patient’s blood sugar level during the fast.
To test for type 2 diabetes, doctors have the patient drink about one cup (226.79 grams) of glucose solution, which is very syrupy and sweet; in fact, it often tastes like a very sweet soda that has lost its bubbles. After drinking the solution, the patient waits about two hours and takes a blood test again. The solution used to test for type 2 diabetes usually contains about 2.6 ounces (75 grams) of sugar. Patients who are tested for gestational diabetes also drink this solution; however, its sugar content is 3.5 ounces (100 grams), and the patient’s blood can be drawn one, two, and three hours after it’s consumed. Sometimes, pregnant patients have blood tests only one hour after drinking the glucose solution and do not need any further blood tests.
Most people do not find the glucose tolerance test particularly inconvenient. Some people feel nauseous after drinking the glucose solution, however, and others feel uncomfortable waiting so long to eat. Also, some people notice discomfort from the needle or medical device used to draw blood.
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