Is 4.9 A1C Good?
Healthful Vitality | 11/29/2022 | Is 4.9 A1C Good?
A1C is among the most reliable tests for diagnosing diabetes. It is also quite a good test for monitoring diabetes patients. Unlike fasting blood glucose tests, or random glucose tests, it is less likely to be erratic as it shows the average blood glucose for the last three months and not only the blood glucose level at the time of testing.
It is a test that measures glycated hemoglobin. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin and are among the few cells in which glucose enters passively. It means that the higher the glucose in the blood, the more it accumulates in the red blood cells.
This is unlike other cells that are closed for glucose transportation, and they only open their doors according to their requirements, and they also need insulin for glucose transportation.
What A1C value indicates diabetes?
CDC states that if A1C is above 6.5%, then it indicates diabetes. If A1C is between 5.7% to 6.4%, it is prediabetes. Any values below 5.7% are normal.
Is 4.9 A1C good?
4.9% is much below 5.7%. Therefore, one can surely say that a person with such values is not living with diabetes. However, the question is, is 4.9% good or not?
Well, it is not significantly worse, but it does not appear to be perfect. Very low A1C indicates low blood glucose levels, which may not be suitable for health and well-being. A person with very low glucose levels may experience fatigue and weakness.
Diabetes is a very common health condition, and everyone is discussing it. However, it appears that people are not discussing low A1C values much. However, it may also indicate that something is wrong or that someone is being overtreated.
If someone is living with diabetes, then 4.9% show overtreatment with oral drugs or insulin. Not only that, it shows that person is consistently taking higher drug dosages than needed. But unfortunately, such a person is also at a considerable risk of hypoglycemia, a condition characterized by very low blood glucose levels. Hypoglycemia is a life-threatening complication of overtreatment, and sometimes it may cause fatal outcomes.
Therefore, if someone living with diabetes has 4.9% A1C, then there is an urgent need to reduce drug dosage or correct insulin dosage.
Is 4.9% A1C low?
However, what about people who are healthy and were never diagnosed with diabetes? It is amazing to see that values below 5% are not rare, yet it remains a neglected subject. However, experts warn that very low blood glucose may also be harmful.
Nonetheless, one of the problems remains to be resolved. No one is sure about how much A1C is really low. Therefore, researchers are unsure if 4.9% A1C is low or not. Some experts say that any value below 5% must be treated as low. However, most health experts agree that any value below 4% is definitely low and harmful to health.
Fortunately, some studies show that very low A1C is associated with higher mortality risk. For example, those with A1C consistently below 5% have a higher risk of premature death than healthy adults with A1C above 5%. Similarly, A1C below 4% is a significant risk factor for premature death.
Low A1C is a less common issue, but it is not a rare problem. It may occur due to overtreatment in diabetes. However, it also occurs in healthy adults and is associated with a higher risk of premature death.
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