Why aren urine tests useful for everday glucose monitoring?
Although blood tests for glucose levels are more troublesome and more painful than urine tests, they provide the best picture of the body’s current glucose status. Urine glucose tests are of no help for several reasons: Glucose only spills over into the urine when the blood glucose level exceeds 180 mg/dL or higher. Some people spill glucose in their urine at higher or lower levels than this so the presence of glucose in the urine does not accurately reflect how high or low the blood glucose is. The results of urine tests vary with the volume of urine and the colorimetric results may be difficult to interpret. Urine glucose tests provide information about the blood glucose level over the past several hours, but do not reflect the current blood glucose.
