Glucose Rapid Spray was one of my finds at the American Association of Diabetes Educators’ (AADE) Conference a few weeks ago as I ambled through the Exhibition Hall. I think it’s a most innovative product that offers three distinct advantages–it provides what it says “rapid glucose delivery” with quick absorption through the surface of your inner cheeks. It offers great portability as its tiny size fits in the palm of your hand, and, it can delay and possibly deflect a low. My only word of caution, however, since we all react to things diabetes differently, is if you give it a try, since it’s uncertain just how many sprays will lift your blood sugar how far, test your blood sugar response over an hour after using, to see how your body reacts. The directions call for 5-10 sprays but you may require more, or less. Also, it’s not marketed as an emergency remedy but a way to keep your blood sugar from dropping like a stone before you can treat it.

My unexpected test of Glucose Rapid Spray occurred the other day when I took my usual one hour walk around my local park and returned at 11 AM with a blood sugar of 50. Great, I said, now I can try out Glucose Rapid Spray! The label directs you to spray 5 to 10 sprays into your mouth directed to your cheek and repeat as desired. So I sprayed 5 sprays into each cheek. While I have the orange flavored version, it also comes in raspberry, the taste is strong, and almost simultaneously sweet and slightly bitter.

I checked my blood sugar fifteen minutes later and it had lifted me to 60. Not bad I thought, but wanting to see what would happen over a bit more time I tested my blood sugar again in another fifteen minutes, now 30 minutes from my initial blood sugar of 50. I was 53. I had risen to 60 and then dropped to 53. Obviously I needed more than 10 sprays to lift me higher. As the directions instruct, I could have sprayed several more mists, but I opted since I was already home to chomp on some glucose tabs.

The takeaway: this may indeed be a valuable product to have with you when you’re on the go to delay a major low, but I’d suggest testing it to determine how many sprays you require to lift your blood sugar sufficiently before you can get your hands on some fast-acting carb or your next meal.