No alcoholic beverages should be taken at or before the dinner meal on the third day. No beverages or food should be taken after midnight of the third day except water. Breakfast should not be eaten before the test is completed. Drink one glass of water in the morning before arriving at the office.
BREAKFAST
- 8 oz. fruit juice
- 1/2 cup cooked cereal or 3/4 cup dry cereal with 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 slices toast Butter
- 1 Tbsp. jelly
- 8 oz. milk
SNACK
Slice bread or 4 saltines
- 1 sweet dessert
3 oz. meat or fish, etc.
- 1/2 cup potatoes, rice or pasta 1/2 cup vegetable
- 1/2 cup canned fruit with syrup
- 1 slice bread or substitute Butter
- 8 oz. milk
SNACK
1/2 C. fruit with syrup
* 1 slice bread or 4 crackers
DINNER 3 oz. meat
* 1/2 cup potatoes, rice or pasta 1/2 cup vegetable
* 1 slice bread or substitute Butter
* Sweet Dessert 8 oz. milk Beverage with * 2 teaspoons sugar
P.S. This seems like a lot of food, and it is. But the diet is important as it will give you the best chance for a normal glucose tolerance test.
" Blood sugar.
" Glucose tolerance.
" Profiles (kidney, liver and cardiac).
" AIDS.
This could be the most comprehensive testing available in evaluating internal disorders in the human body. No one test can tell a doctor more about a person's physical well-being than the blood testing can tell. There are many items that blood can be checked for, and only a trained medical professional can explain the various items and interpret them. When having your blood checked privately, you can specify that it be evaluated for 12, 24 and possibly 30 elements, more commonly known as a blood test profile 12,24 or 30. The larger the number, the more elements being tested.
Glucose Tolerance
This is a test that compares blood sugar levels before and after gross sugar ingestion. The pilot will be asked to fast for a period of time and then to drink a glucose solution. At a given interval(s), blood samples will be taken to determine the ability of the pilot's body to neutralize the glucose by producing insulin.
The three-hour glucose tolerance test is used to detect the present status of (or a tendency toward) diabetes. Tests for sugar content in the blood and urine are measured first during fasting state, then at intervals of one, two, and three hours after ingestion of a high-carbohydrate liquid. Based on the resulting data from that specific testing period, the physician interprets whether or not the applicant's sugar content is completely normal or is suggestive of a diabetic condition. Since the results of the glucose tolerance test can vary from day to day for the same individual, the test is highly controversial. Some doctors even feel the glucose tolerance test over-diagnoses; that is, there are many people who have been diagnosed, strictly from the glucose tolerance test, as having a tendency toward diabetes, but who have not, in fact, developed the disease.
The test is not valid without following a 300-mg carbohydrate loading diet for three days immediately preceding the test. This diet ensures that the pancreas (the gland producing insulin, which is taken up by the bloodstream) is not in a dormant state from too little previous carbohydrate intake.
Although controversial, the test still is used by the FAA for determining the presence of diabetes. There are currently no alternative examinations to measure blood sugars. Diabetes that requires medication is a mandatory disqualification by the FAA; therefore, the detection of potential diabetes is extremely important in all pre-employment evaluations. For that reason, many airlines incorporate a glucose tolerance test (or a variation) in their pre-employment screening. In terms of the applicant, there are three possible outcomes: First, if the test proves completely normal, the applicant will pass; second, if the test shows gross abnormalities, the applicant will fail and will, without a doubt, be rejected for employment; lastly, the test may yield an equivocal result, which, depending on who does the interpreting, may or may not be significant. It is during the unfolding of this last scenario that the applicant's career may rest upon the mercy of the evaluator.
No one wants to ignore the factual presence of diabetes. However, with a career at stake, an equivocal reading often places the pilot applicant in quite a dilemma. There is little that the applicant can do to second-guess the suspicious or abnormal glucose tolerance test once it has been evaluated.
From a purely business standpoint, which is obviously the only sensible airline vantage point, if there are 10 applicants competing for one seat in a training class, and one of those applicants labors under a suspicion of potential diabetes, the potential diabetic will most certainly be the first one eliminated from the pack (unless one of the others has an even more disqualifying condition).
A common-sense regimen of keeping your weight down and decreasing total sugar intake is the best bet in preparing for a glucose tolerance test - and that goes for maintaining your general well-being also. More specifically, three days prior to the actual testing date, you should use the loading diet mentioned above. If such information is not provided by the employer, you can learn more about it from your family doctor. In fact, if you know you have had borderline test results in the past, you would be well advised to have a thorough evaluation by your own doctor. The results should then be documented for future use.
