The OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test) is a good test when other methods for diagnosing type 2 diabetes are not available.
It’s what comes after the test that is insane.
Your doctor will prescribe an OGTT if he/she suspects you are type 2 diabetic. You will be given a drinkable solution that contains 75 grams (typically) of glucose, which you will be instructed to consume within 5 minutes.
Once you drink the solution, your blood sugar will be measured at regular intervals. The 2-hour reading after drinking this solution is considered the most important. And typically, if your blood sugar is 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L) or above, you will be diagnosed as type 2 diabetic.
Things are fine and dandy up to this point.
Going forward is where things stop making sense!
One of the people you will meet with along the way will be a food and nutrition expert – RD, Diabetes Educator or something similar. If they are following the ADA guidelines, you will be told to eat 60 grams of carbohydrate at every meal…
…and probably 15 grams of carbohydrates at two different snacks during the day.
Now, consider that you just failed the OGTT. The 75 grams in that solution elevated your blood sugar to 200 mg/dL or above for two hours. What do you think will happen to your blood sugar after a meal that contains 60 grams of carbohydrate? Of course it is going to elevate, but the question is: How high is it going to go? If your blood sugar was 200 mg/dL or higher two hours in to the OGTT, 60 grams in your meal is going to be close to that. There isn’t much difference between 60 and 75 grams of carbohydrate.
While this is the dietary advice you are given, you are also told to keep your blood sugar within a certain range. And it’s very likely the high number in that range is below 200 mg/dL!
But if you are following this advice, your blood sugar will be out of range. What is the solution? How will you get it back in range? You will need to take more medication!
Before too long, and because you’ve been told type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease, you will be taking the highest dosage of medication you can. The solution at this point is to add medication to your daily regimen – like insulin.
This is insane!
You body is unable to control blood sugar because your insulin isn’t working, yet the dietary recommendations they give you are essentially repeated tests of the OGTT.
If you asked a doctor if he/she would expect this with a repeated OGTT, the answer would be yes. But they seem oblivious to the dietary recommendations being the exact same thing.
Dietary recommendations for Type 2 Diabetics are repeated implementations of the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test!
Then they have to start jacking with your meds because your blood sugar stays elevated.
None of this makes any sense!
It stands to reason that if consuming glucose elevates your blood sugar, then consuming fewer carbohydrates would keep it from elevating too.
And guess what, that’s what happens!
Don’t fall for this nonsense of eating 60 grams of carbohydrate per meal. Test your own numbers. Test before a meal and then 2 hours afterwards. If it’s over 200 hundred, drop the carbohydrate count to 30 grams and test again.
The OGTT itself isn’t insane. It’s what they tell people to do afterwards that’s insane.
