Should Any Diet Restrictions Be Followed Before Glucose Tolerance Test?

Posted on Fri, 1 Jul 2016

Question: Hello,
I am 26 weeks pregnant. This weekend on Saturday I had my gulcose tolerance test (3 hours) on which I failed badly. My fasting numbers were: 172, 1 hour: 325 and 2 hour: 318. I know they are bad but my doctor never told me to follow a strict diet of 3 -5 days prior to the test. In my pregnancy I have been craving for a lot of sweet things so kept having them. Iced tea, cold drinks, juice, Icecream; anything sweet you can think of. This is the reason I think that caused such a high levels of sugar in my blood. To confirm that i have Gestation diabetes I want to retake my test on coming thursday and I have been following the required diet before the test. What do u recommend me? Should I re take it. Can the numbers be lower next time? Should I take high carb diet and avoid all the sugary stuff for test? Please suggest, I am extremely worried. Thankyou!

Answered by Dr. Deepti Verma (45 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
No diet restriction required prior to OGTT

Detailed Answer:
Hi dear,
I have gone through your question and understand your concerns.
No diet restriction of any kind is required prior to undergoing oral glucose tolerance test.
Your sugar levels are grossly deranged.
According to me, these need not be repeated as these are indicative of gestational diabetes mellitus.
You should be started on diabetic diet and get the sugar levels- fasting, 2 hour post meals, checked after 2 weeks to check the control.
Hope you found the answer helpful.
Regards
Dr Deepti Verma
OBGYN

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar