Why Do Blood Glucose Levels Become Uncontrolled?

Blood glucose levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day. As you eat, blood glucose levels rise as your food is metabolized, and then lower again as that glucose is taken by the cells to do work. However, in the case of diabetes, blood glucose levels become uncontrolled. There are several contributing factors to this.

• In diabetics, blood glucose levels become uncontrolled.

Normal Levels

• According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, or NDIC, normal blood glucose levels should be between 70 and 130 before meals, and less than 180 one to two hours after eating.

Insulin

• According to the American Diabetes Association, insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps you utilize the glucose in your bloodstream. Type 1 diabetics do not produce enough insulin to be effective, and type 2 diabetics do not respond properly to the insulin they produce.

Insulin Resistance

• Insulin resistance refers to the body's inability to use insulin properly, which means that the body cannot properly. The National Institutes of Health, or NIH, believe that this is the precursor to diabetes, which develops because of fat's interference with insulin use.

Pancreas

• When insulin resistance develops, the body begins producing more insulin which allows the body to use the glucose in the blood. If additional changes are not made, insulin resistance worsens and the pancreas becomes unable to produce enough insulin to maintain the body's needs.

Risk Factors

• The risk factors of developing diabetes include: middle or old age, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, family history of diabetes, and insulin resistance. The NIH suggests that ethnicity may also play a role.