The Glucose Test Strip: How It Works
Diabetics have to monitor themselves every day by using test strips to determine their blood glucose levels. Most diabetics use the glucose test strip, which gives them a “snapshot” of their current blood sugar at the moment they take the blood sample. They use the monitoring results to determine how the effects of past activities such as exercising and eating affected them. Then, if necessary, they decide what steps they should take to increase or lower their blood sugar before the next monitoring.
Instead of using a glucose test strip, some diabetics use a urine glucose test strip, which measures the amount of sugar in their urine. Each test strip works differently and one is more effective than the other.
The Glucose Test Strip
The glucose test strip is one component in a glucose monitoring system, which includes:
- Blood glucose strip
- Lancet
- Monitor
A glucose test strip has a small area on it that is impregnated with chemicals that interact with blood to create ferrocyanide. The way the glucose monitoring system works in conjunction with the glucose test strip is like this:
- You turn on the monitor and insert the glucose test strip into it.
- With the lancet, you prick the side of your finger. Some monitoring systems also let you take blood samples from other areas, called “sites,” such as your arm or the palm of your hand.
- You put a sample of blood on a specific area of the glucose test strip. Some glucose monitoring systems require just a tiny sample, some as small as 0.06 microliters.
- The monitor passes an electric current through the ferrocyanide on the glucose test strip and measures the amount of glucose in the blood sample. Depending on the monitor, you can get the results within 4 or 5 seconds.
The Urine Glucose Test Strip
Some diabetics don’t want to prick their fingers or can’t afford a glucose monitoring system, as a glucose test strips are more expensive than a urine glucose test strip. Like the glucose test strip, the urine test strip is impregnated with a chemical, only this chemical reacts to glucose in urine. Glucose enters your urine when your blood sugar level goes higher than around 180 grams per liter (or mg/dl). The way the urine glucose test strip works is like this:
- You take a urine sample.
- You dip the urine glucose test strip into the urine.
- You wait a certain amount of time for the test strip to change color.
- You match the color to the color on the chart that comes with the package of urine test strips.
Comparison of the Glucose Test Strip and the Urine Glucose Test Strip
The glucose test strip is much more effective in measuring glucose sugar levels than the urine glucose test strip. So much more effective, in fact, that few people use urine glucose test strips any more. The following chart compares the two kinds of test strips:
| Glucose Test Strip | Urine Glucose Test Strip |
| Measures the glucose level at the moment you took the blood sample | Measures an average glucose level since the last time you urinated |
| Gives an exact reading | Gives a rough reading |
| Measures both high and low glucose levels | Measures only high glucose levels |
| Is appropriate for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics | Is not appropriate for type 1 diabetics and for type 2 diabetics on insulin |
| Can be used for adjusting insulin levels | Cannot be used for adjusting insulin levels |
Tags: blood monitoring system, blood sugar levels, glucose monitoring system, glucose test strip, glucose test strips, urine glucose test strip, urine glucose test strips
