Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
Ask your doctor to order a test called Hemoglobin A1C (HBA1c).
Many doctors still diagnose diabetes only if your fasting blood
sugar is above 126, or 180 two hours after eating. These are not
reliable measures.
The side effects of diabetes are caused by
blood sugar levels rising too high after meals, causing sugar to
stick to cells. Once stuck on a cell, sugar is converted to a
poison called sorbitol that causes heart attacks, strokes,
blindness, deafness and kidney damage. The test to measure
how much sugar is stuck on cells is called HBA1C. If HBA1C is
high, a person is headed for the side effects of diabetes, no
matter whether you call this diabetes or not. See Who is Pre-Diabetic?.
Incidently, many people ask me why sorbitol is it used in candy and
gum, when I tell them that it is a poison. Sorbitol in food is harmless because you cannot absorb it; it passes right through and is excreted. The harmful sorbitol is formed from sugar in your own body.
December 10, 2005