January 23, 2007
Other
Question from India:
Type 2 diabetics commonly get cravings to eat and occasionally overeat. What causes such cravings/overrating? How can the status/level of total body glucose be measured instead of just blood status? Is it possible that a diabetic is deficient in glucose on a total body level, but elevated on a blood level, which may result excessive cravings and hunger?
Answer:
Cravings or increased hunger can be brought about by a lot of different things. I do not know if this is specific for diabetes, as a lot of people without diabetes have cravings as well. There are some medications that people with diabetes take that can increase appetite. You may want to talk with your physician about these. There are ways to measure total body glucose uptake, glucose oxidation, and glucose turnover. These require special procedures and are available as references in the diabetes literature or in textbooks.
JTL