Interstitial glucose profile associated with symptoms attributed to hypoglycemia by otherwise healthy women

Background: Reports of postprandial symptoms attributed to hypoglycemia by otherwise healthy individuals appear to be relatively common in UK women. Whether these symptoms are related to blood glucose is a contentious issue, which periodic ambulatory blood glucose measurement has failed to resolve. Objective: The authors investigated, using continuous glucose monitoring technology, whether postprandial symptoms are associated with interstitial glucose concentrations (IG) in the hypoglycemic range or with a previous fall in IG. Design: Thirty healthy nonobese women (age 20-48 y) who reported symptoms attributable to hypoglycemia and 20 nonsymptomatic controls wore a subcutaneous probe in abdominal fat for 4-7 d (median: 5 d) and kept a diet and activity diary during this time. Results: Twenty women reported postprandial symptoms; 41 episodes were recorded. When symptomatic, IG was ≤3.3 mmol/L in 5% of cases. A significant fall in IG over the preceding 60 min was observed before autonomic symptoms (P < 0.005). The proportion of total energy intake derived from dietary fat in the symptomatic group was higher than that in the controls (