MEDICAL PROGRESS - HYPOGLYCEMIC DISORDERS

Hypoglycemia is a clinical syndrome with diverse causes in which low levels of plasma glucose eventually lead to neuroglycopenia. This review will be devoted to hypoglycemic disorders that do not result from the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Glucose Counterregulation In healthy persons, postabsorptive levels of plasma glucose stay within a narrow range (about 60 to 100 mg per deciliter [3.3 to 5.6 mmol per liter]) despite the intermittent ingestion of food. Insulin, the primary regulatory hormone that blunts postprandial hyperglycemia and maintains postabsorptive euglycemia, has its effects counterbalanced by several factors that provide a minimal level of glycemia in order. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.