Tracking how your body is handling sugar over time with HbA1c is one of the most important tests you can do to understand your metabolic health. Are you on a path towards pre-diabetes or diabetes?
Choose how you'd like to collect your blood sample and post it to our lab. Your sample will be analysed by our UKAS-accredited lab partner (who also test for the NHS) and you'll get your results and doctor's report in days.
TESTS FOR:
Finger-prick blood collection
Use our simple kit to collect a blood sample from your finger at home.
Visit a clinic to have your blood taken
Arrange for a venous blood draw yourself
Depending on your age, sex and any symptoms, you may consider adding to your test panel.
Our Pre-diabetes & Sugar Handling HbA1c Test is for you if...
You want to understand how well you body is handling sugar, a key marker of your metabolic health
You want to know if you have pre-diabetes or diabetes
You'd like to understand your risk of getting diabetes in the future
You want to track your sugar-handling over time to proactively monitor your health
How does the
Pre-diabetes & Sugar Handling HbA1c Test help you?
Dr Claire Merrifield
GP & PhD
our medical director
The food you eat results in sugar in your blood which fuels your body. But how your body regulates or handles that sugar is a key sign of how healthy your metabolism is. Diet, weight, exercise, sleep, your genes - they all feed into how well your body can handle blood sugar.
HbA1c is a biomarker of how your body has been handling sugar over the last few months. The higher the HbA1c, the worse your body's sugar handling. Once your HbA1c gets to 42mmol/mol you have "pre-diabetes" which puts you at high risk of going on to develop diabetes. If your HbA1c is 48mmol/mol or above then you have full-blown type 2 diabetes.
The great thing about HbA1c is that you can track how it changes over time. Even if your HbA1c is normal today, if you see it creeping up every year, you know that you need to make changes now to stop yourself continuing on the path to diabetes. Even in the 'normal range', the lower your HbA1c, the better.
Guidelines recommend checking your HbA1c at least every 3 years if:
- You're over 45 years old
- You're overweight or do physical activity less than 3 times a week
- Some of your close family have type 2 diabetes
- Are of South-Asian, African-Caribbean or Black African descent
What's tested
and why?
Diabetes & Sugar Handling
Tracking your sugar handling over time gives you a window into your metabolic health. If it's on the wrong path, you can make changes before you get to pre-diabetes and diabetes.
WHAT'S MEASURED?
This test panel measures the levels of the biomarker HbA1c. HbA1c is a normal type of haemoglobin (the molecule that carries oxygen around the body) that we all have. Levels of HbA1c are directly related to how our body has been handling sugar over the last few months. Levels of HbA1c can indicate pre- / early diabetes or diabetes but you can also track HbA1c levels over time to get an understanding of your metabolic health.
We do not recommend using this test panel if you:
- are a child (17 years or under)
- are pregnant
- know that you have an abnormality with your haemoglobin like sickle cell disease or trait or thalassaem
If you're unsure if you should use this test panel, please contact us for advice.
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