The increased consumption of refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup has led to a plague of high blood sugar level among both children and adults. In turn, this has led to a number of debilitating medical conditions that have placed an additional strain on our already overextended health care system.

In this article, I will help you understand what leads to elevated blood sugar and provide suggestions for mitigating or avoiding the condition. Please note, there is no substitute for a qualified medical diagnosis, so if you have concerns that blood sugar levels are high in yourself or your family, the most important thing to do is see your doctor as soon as possible.

Energy from the foods we eat is stored in the blood as glucose. The medical term for abnormally high blood glucose levels is hyperglycemia, and it manifests itself in two forms. The body secretes a substance called insulin to allow it to absorb the energy stored in the glucose.

When the body can’t make enough insulin, or the insulin it makes isn’t working with the glucose in the blood, diabetes can develop. The most common resultant of elevated blood sugar, diabetes is an incredibly debilitating disease that requires a lifetime of management and can lead to a host of health problems.

There are two preventative measures that can be taken to avoid very high blood sugar levels. The first and most obvious is monitoring your diet. Foods with large amounts of processed sugar and carbohydrates release the largest amount of glucose into the bloodstream.

Diabetics learn to avoid sweets, breads and other unhealthy foods. In addition, getting regular aerobic exercise can aid in lowering blood sugar levels and training the body to develop a more normal metabolic response. Of course, once a patient has developed diabetes, they will need to begin a lifelong course of medication and insulin treatment to manage their condition.

If you believe that your blood sugar levels may be elevated, there are several high blood sugar symptoms to look out for. You may find yourself both drinking and urinating more than normal – the kidneys respond to high blood sugar levels by attempting to flush out the glucose in urine.

As a result, you will want to consume more liquid to compensate. You may also feel tired and find yourself losing weight as your body resorts to breaking down healthy muscle and fat cells because it is unable to extract energy from the glucose in the bloodstream.

I hope this article has helped dispel some of the confusion around elevated blood sugar and the associated risks. It is a very real issue that places an increasingly large burden on our health care system, and it should be fought like any other disease.

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