Glucose levels and heart disease risk go hand in hand.
Continuous glucose monitors like our FreeStyle Libre CGM systems can help you watch patterns in your levels over time and take action to stabilize them in the moment. If you’re living with diabetes, understanding glucose level trendlines is important for your health journey — especially when data suggests you’re twice as likely to be diagnosed with heart disease compared with people who don’t have diabetes.1
If a person’s glucose levels are constantly high, the heart’s blood vessels and nerves can be damaged.1
In comes a CGM. You can see your glucose levels, including where it has been and where it could go, throughout the day with this type of biowearable. As you move and eat, a CGM helps you watch out for when there is a sharp increase called a glucose spike — and how often that spike happens. If there’s a noticeable pattern, CGM users can share* their CGM data with their healthcare provider (which our FreeStyle Libre systems do through LibreView in select countries**) to determine if there are any lifestyle changes that can help and if any tests are recommended.
Take Beth Marcello, for example. Beth is a retired teacher and mother who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and lives with heart failure. She started using the FreeStyle Libre and Abbott’s CardioMEMS HF System and has had a much easier time managing her health.
“For me, my health is a numbers game. Looking at the numbers on my FreeStyle Libre app — which I check often — allows me to make better decisions about what and when I eat,” she said. “That in turn, impacts my heart health and my CardioMEMS numbers.”
“What’s great is that not only can I make smarter decisions about what I do every day, but my doctors share this information, making the care I get very personal and connected.”
What’s out: Not planning out how you eat.
“You can eat that?”
Diabetes stigma remains prevalent as people continue to misunderstand that diabetes doesn’t dictate a specific diet. Aim for healthy, balanced meals — the same advice applies to everyone.
And on top of having healthy, balanced meals, be purposeful about how you navigate your plate. According to a 2022 study, people with Type 2 diabetes who ate vegetables before eating carbohydrates saw an improvement in their average glucose levels when followed up with at the five-year mark.2
“Lifestyle changes for people with diabetes, like trying out food sequencing, don’t have to be overcomplicated,” said Dr. Mahmood Kazemi, divisional vice president, Diabetes Care, Abbott. “Continuous glucose monitoring helps draw the connections between what’s on a plate and how glucose levels are affected — and that benefits the diabetes management journey because informed decisions can happen. The goal is to help people with diabetes demystify the patterns in their glucose trendline over time since every body is different.”
It’s no secret that balancing a plate with leafy greens, whole grains and protein-rich foods can help protect against heart disease. But by considering how you eat in addition to what, you can better stabilize your glucose levels, which in turn decreases your risk of heart disease.3