In this episode of Defining Diabetes, Jenny Smith and I are going to define A1C.

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A1C, Jenny, we're going to define A1C because some people like to say it out all fancy, right? How do they say it?

Those people who like to give the extra letters

the B D, C, G, G, or whatever.

What's the whole thing?

Chemoglobin afterwards or whatever. What's the whole thing? Hemoglobin A1C is essentially the full term for it, right?

Hemoglobin A1C.

Typically it's tested anywhere between two to four times a year by most endos or primary care

doctors and essentially shows how well blood sugars have been controlled over about a three month time period,

mainly because it refers to the life cycle of your red blood cells,

and that's the hemoglobin part of A1C. The life cycle of a red blood cell is such that you have

turnover about every 90 days. So about every three months you've got this turnover of red blood cells and with

hemoglobin being a piece of it and the glucose sticking to the hemoglobin

then we can measure overall the amount of sugar that was circulating within that

three month

closer to the draw for A1C has more weight into the

for A1C has more weight into the A1C value than the three month ago month.

Does that make sense?

No, say it again.

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