High HbA1C levels associated with diabetes

This study was published in Diabetes Care 2000 Dec;23(12):1770-3

Study title and authors:

Combined use of fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c predicts the progression to diabetes in Chinese subjects.

Ko GT, Chan JC, Tsang LW, Cockram CS.

Department of Medicine, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, Tai Po, Hong Kong, China. gtc_ko@hotmail.com

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11128350

The study analyzed the likelihood of nondiabetic subjects becoming diabetic according to their fasting blood glucose (FPG) and glycosolated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (hemoglobin A1C) concentrations. The study included 208 subjects who were followed for 1.6 years.

The study found that those nondiabetics who had fasting plasma glucose (FPG) at or above 6.1 mmol/l (109.8 mg/dL) and HbA1C levels at or above 6.1% were 5 times more likely to develop diabetes than those nondiabetics who had fasting plasma glucose (FPG) below 6.1 mmol/l (109.8 mg/dL) and HbA1C levels below 6.1%.

High blood glucose levels are caused by diets high in carbohydrates see here.

HbA1C levels can be lowered by a high fat/low carbohydrate diet see here.