High blood glucose 208 after having mango juice in a non-diabetic

QUESTION: I had mango juice this late afternoon and checked my sugar level one hour after the meal. It was 208. I have been checking my sugar levels of and on and they are normal.

Is it possible for a non-diabetic to get high reading like 208 once in a while?


ANSWER: Hi,

It is true that a blood sugar level of 208mg/dl is really high as the normal blood glucose level after having a meal is less than 180mg/dl. However, sometimes, due to consumption of meal rich in carbs, the blood glucose can be higher, just like in your case.

Normally, the blood glucose measurement after having meal, is estimated 2 hours after the meal consumption and not one hour like you did. The reason why the test is estimated 2 hours after the feeding is because the organism needs time to handle with the glucose acquired with the food.

Moreover, the organism needs time to transport the glucose from the food versus the cell in your body. With the two-hour period, we are ensuring the organism enough time to do those things and they we can see how much glucose has left unused in the blood.

Because of this, I can say that this result is normal. However, we want to be sure that everything is ok with your metabolism and my advice is to perform the blood glucose test tomorrow, two hours after having dinner or a meal in the late afternoon. I need you to check if the result is higher than 180mg/dl.

Regarding the mango juice, you have to know that it contains lots of simple sugars, which are metabolized easily by the organism.

However, the mango juice by itself is not able to cause severe blood glucose elevation, but when it is combined with other foods, rich in carbs, severe blood glucose elevation is a fact.

The other thing is that occasional elevation of the blood glucose concentration is observed in people, who don't have diabetes. Generally, this elevation is cause by the consumption of meal rich in carbs, or because of the alcohol usage or stress.

Because of this, in purpose to maintain your blood glucose within normal ranges, try to find a way to reduce the stress, stop the eventual usage of alcohol and try to follow a healthy diet.

Hope it helped!

Dr.Alba