Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)

About The Test

Glucose is the type of sugar that the cells of the human body use as their main energy source. Your body breaks down the food you eat into glucose and other substances. Your liver stores extra glucose and can produce it at times when you are not eating. The glucose goes into your bloodstream, where a hormone called insulin helps bring glucose into your body’s cells.

Too much glucose in the blood can be a sign of diabetes, a serious medical condition that can cause tissue and organ damage if it is not managed. Diabetes can develop if your body can’t make enough insulin or if your body’s cells have trouble accepting insulin.

Too little glucose in the blood is called hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is often caused by diabetes medication, but may also be due to health conditions unrelated to diabetes or to other medications.

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) 

Although the hemoglobin A1c test does not measure glucose directly, it does reflect your average blood glucose levels over the past three months by measuring the amount of hemoglobin that has attached glucose.