Nov. 13, 2000--
A major medical research study released today carries an important warning about your blood sugar level.
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More Info
Lifestyle changes to improve blood sugar levels include weight loss or healthy
weight management, increasing exercise, smoking cessation, and the treatment of
high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. (Source: Heart Info Network)
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Levels below those considered the range for diabetes may still signal a high risk for a fatal heart attack.
Science Specialist Ed Yeates reports.
Researchers at LDS Hospital made an interesting discovery when they looked at deaths from heart disease and a person's blood sugar level. You don't have to be a diabetic to be at risk.
A person with diabetes is higher at risk for dying from heart disease. That's a well established fact.
The blood sugar threshold for a diagnosis of diabetes is currently 126 or above.
But when LDS Hospital researchers began looking at mortality rates, those who die from heart attacks, they couldn't believe what the stats really showed.
BRENT MUHLSTEIN, M.D., CARDIAC RESEARCH, LDS HOSPITAL: "AN INCREASED RISK OF DEATH OCCURS IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY DISEASE WITH BLOOD SUGAR GOING ALL THE WAY DOWN TO 110."
110 is way below the diagnosis of diabetes and yet a person with heart disease is just as apt to die with a blood sugar level of 110 as a diabetic with a blood sugar level at 126 or above.
Even a healthy person with no evidence of heart disease is at risk.
"BUT THERE APPEARS TO BE SOME INCREASED RISK EVEN IN PATIENTS WHO ARE HEALTHY WHO HAVE A BLOOD SUGAR WITH JUST THESE MODEST ELEVATIONS."
79-year-old Kay Schwendiman is one of those patients you would never expect to need bypass surgery. Kay himself was puzzled.
KAY SCHWENDIMAN, HEART PATIENT: "BEEN KIND OF A WORRISOME THING FOR ME ABOUT THE CHOLESTEROL - BEING SO LOW - AND STILL CLOGGED UP ARTERIES."
Kay had low cholesterol, he was not overweight - but his blood sugar was slightly elevated at 118. If this lower level really is a risk factor, it may mean any moderate resistance to insulin by the cells could be a problem.
BRENT MUHLSTEIN, M.D., CARDIAC RESEARCH, LDS HOSPITAL: "WHAT I DID NOT EXPECT TO FIND WAS THIS ADDED TREMENDOUS FOUR-FOLD INCREASE RISK OF DYING OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS IN THIS VERY MODEST ELEVATION BETWEEN 110 AND 126. THAT WAS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED."
The American Diabetes Association says a normal blood sugar level for a healthy person is between 60 and 120.
That now may change if these new findings from LDS Hospital researchers are confirmed.
