High urine glucose tests suggest your blood sugar may be too high, putting you at risk for diabetes or indicating poor blood glucose control.
A urine glucose test measures whether you have an abnormally high amount of glucose in your urine. This can happen when your blood sugar is too high, glucose is lost in your urine, or your kidneys are not properly reabsorbing glucose.
Glucose is a sugar that is used by your body for energy. Insulin, glucagon, and other hormones regulate its level in the bloodstream. Normally, insulin is secreted by the pancreas into the bloodstream to shuttle glucose into your body cells, where it can be used for energy or stored as fat.
When insulin sensitivity decreases or your pancreas does not produce enough insulin, it can lead to hyperglycemia or high blood sugar. Excess glucose in your bloodstream is then excreted into the urine, causing glycosuria. A urine glucose test can detect glycosuria.
When your blood glucose is too high, tiny kidney filtering units called nephrons cannot reabsorb glucose quickly enough, and some of it is lost in your urine. A urine glucose test measures how much glucose is left in your urine and excreted from your body.
High glucose levels in the urine could indicate a medical problem such as diabetes, a kidney disease, a medication side effect, or pregnancy.
Glucose is not normally found in the urine, so when it is present, it suggests a health problem that needs to be identified and possibly treated.
In healthy individuals, glucosuria can be up to 0.25 mg/mL. More than 0.25 mg/mL is considered abnormal.1,2
Normal values for glucose urine tests are slightly lower:3
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Diabetes screening is the most common reason for requesting a urine glucose test. Urine glucose tests are quick and painless to check whether your kidneys are reabsorbing all the glucose secreted into your urine. While a urine glucose test is not used alone to diagnose diabetes, it can be an early indicator that requires further investigation.
Risk factors for insulin resistance, prediabetes, and diabetes include:
People with these risk factors may have a screening urine glucose test as part of their routine physical exam or if their doctor suspects diabetes or kidney disease.
The early signs of type 2 diabetes are nonspecific and overlap with several other conditions. Watch for these symptoms and look for a pattern.
Early signs of type 2 diabetes include the following:
A urine glucose test can be done as part of a complete test called a urinalysis, which measures many urine parameters, or as a single urine glucose test. Before doing a urine glucose test, tell your doctor about all your medications and supplements. Some medications, such as antibiotics, corticosteroids, catecholamines, decongestants, and others, can affect your test results.9
To complete the test:
Normally, there is no glucose present in your urine. A single elevated urine glucose level may have little significance, but it should not be ignored. Talk to your doctor about your test results to see if further testing is necessary to determine whether increased urine glucose suggests diabetes, a kidney problem, or something else.
An abnormally high urine glucose level may result from an abnormally high blood glucose level, indicating type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes. The kidney has a threshold for how much glucose it can reabsorb. You may exceed this threshold if your blood glucose levels are too high.
Normal blood sugars for people without diabetes are 80–130 mg/dL before eating and less than 180 mg/dL one to two hours after eating. Blood glucose is usually at least 180 mg/dl before it can be detected with a urine glucose test.11
Increased urine glucose can also occur in prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugars are high but have not met the criteria for diabetes. You can reverse prediabetes, preventing or at least delaying the onset of diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy and generally resolves at delivery. The placenta, an organ that provides the fetus with nutrients, produces hormones that can cause insulin resistance. Genetic predisposition, environmental factors, and medical conditions, such as obesity, can increase the risk of developing gestational diabetes.10
While blood sugar testing is more commonly used to monitor diabetes, urine glucose tests can also be used as a simple way to gauge whether your blood sugar is too high and needs better management.
In a situation where blood glucose levels are normal, increased glucose in the urine suggests a problem with the kidney and its ability to reabsorb glucose. Renal glycosuria is a much rarer cause of glucose in the urine than diabetes. It can be inherited and cause kidney filtering problems or be part of a genetic condition that affects many body systems.
Chronically high blood sugar damages blood vessels, including those in the kidneys. When blood vessels are damaged, they affect blood flow into the kidneys. Small blood vessels are part of the kidney filtering units. When blood flow through these vessels decreases, your kidneys cannot filter your blood as well.
Some medications can affect urine glucose test results, including:12
Glucose in your urine is a sign that your blood glucose is too high or that your kidneys are not filtering your blood as well as they should be. To manage high glucose levels in your urine, check with your doctor to receive a full evaluation and an appropriate diagnosis. If your blood sugar is too high and you can stabilize it, you will reap better health benefits.
High blood glucose is the most likely reason you have high glucose levels in your urine. If you do not have diabetes, high glucose levels may be a warning that your body is developing insulin resistance. Here are some tips to improve your insulin sensitivity and potentially prevent it from progressing to type 2 diabetes.
Sugar in your urine may indicate that your body is not metabolically healthy. While a urine glucose test provides a single data point about your metabolic health, you may want more information. A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) from Signos can improve your health and support your steps to adopt a healthier lifestyle while keeping track of your blood sugar levels.
The experts at Signos can help you better understand how your lifestyle choices affect your blood glucose. Learn how Signos works and how it can help you progress toward better health.
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