Test gauges sugar control in diabetics

The GlycoMark test, which measures a chemical called anhydroglucitol, is useful for checking blood sugar levels in diabetics, researchers report. As senior researcher Mark J. Sarno told Reuters Health, the test "provides a means for diabetic patients to rapidly respond to worsening (sugar) control."

Sarno of Vision Biotechnology Consulting in Encinitas, California, and colleagues note in the medical journal Diabetes Care that Japanese researchers have determined that anhydroglucitol levels are associated with sugar control. A low anhydroglucitol level means that blood sugar levels are too high.

To investigate further, the researchers enrolled 22 patients with type 1 diabetes and 55 with type 2 diabetes. All of the patients had problems keeping their sugar levels down, which was determined by increased levels of hemoglobin A1c, a blood test that assesses long-term sugar control.

The patients received diabetes education, nutritional counseling, and various medications designed to reduce their sugar levels. The findings showed that the anhydroglucitol level responded quickly to changes in blood sugar levels, whereas the hemoglobin A1c level took several weeks to adjust.

Sarno noted that to achieve tight glucose control, "monitoring tools that rapidly and accurately respond to changes" in sugar levels, especially high levels, are required. "The GlycoMark test... is just such a tool."

He believes that the assay, "together with other clinical methods, will help to reduce the incidence and severity of long-term vascular complications."

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, August 2004.