What the Post Prandial Blood Sugar Test (PPBS) measures
A post prandial blood sugar test (PPBS, or PP sugar) measures the glucose in your blood about two hours after a meal. After you eat, blood sugar rises and the body releases insulin to bring it back down. In most people without diabetes the level has largely settled by two hours, so a value that is still high suggests the body is not handling sugar from food as well as it should. PPBS is often booked together with a fasting blood sugar: the fasting sample is given first, you eat a normal meal, and the second sample is taken two hours later. Seen side by side, the two readings show both your resting sugar and how your body copes with a meal. Doctors use PPBS to screen for diabetes, to see whether treatment is controlling the rise after meals, and to adjust diabetes medicines. It is not the same as an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), which uses a measured glucose drink instead of an ordinary meal; when a diagnosis is uncertain, your doctor may ask for an OGTT or an HbA1c.
Price: the Post Prandial Blood Sugar Test (PPBS) costs ₹72 at Pure Bliss (MRP ₹90), with the sample collected at our Action Area 2, New Town centre or at your home.
Who this test is for
- Screening for diabetes, usually together with a fasting sugar
- People with diabetes whose treatment is being reviewed
- A normal fasting sugar but symptoms or a family history that still suggest diabetes
- Routine health checks, as advised by a doctor
How to prepare, the sample, and when to expect the report
Preparation
Eat your usual meal, and give the sample two hours after you start eating, unless your doctor has asked for a different timing. Tell us what time you began the meal. Do not eat anything else, or drink anything except plain water, in the two hours before the sample, and avoid heavy exercise during that time. Take your diabetes medicines as your doctor has advised. If it is booked with a fasting sugar, give the fasting sample first, then eat.
Sample
Blood, from a vein in the arm (fluoride tube for glucose).
Reporting time
Morning samples are reported the same day; later samples by the next day.
Reading the result
As commonly used guidance, a two-hour value below 140 mg/dL is considered normal. The well-known cut-offs of 140 to 199 mg/dL (impaired glucose tolerance) and 200 mg/dL or above (diabetes range) come from the glucose tolerance test with a standard 75 g glucose drink, so a post-meal value after an ordinary meal is a useful guide rather than a diagnosis on its own. Your own report’s range and your doctor’s reading take priority over these general figures. Reference ranges differ between laboratories, so your report lists the laboratory’s own range beside each value. A result outside the range does not always mean illness; ask your doctor to explain it.
- Centre or home collection
- NABL-accredited Redcliffe Labs collection centre
- How collection works →
The Post Prandial Blood Sugar Test (PPBS) can be booked at the clinic in Action Area 2 or with a home collection from 7:30 AM. Patients come to us from Action Area 1, Action Area 3, Rajarhat, Chinar Park, Salt Lake Sector V, Sukhobrishti and Eco Park.