WHAT IS GLYCOSURIA?

Medically reviewed by Alexandra Dubinskaya, MD

Glycosuria occurs when you have too much sugar (such as glucose, lactose, or fructose) in your urine. It's normal to have small amounts of sugar in your urine because your body needs sugar to turn it into energy. But having excess sugar is usually a sign that your body isn't functioning properly—often due to another underlying health condition, such as diabetes. 

Usually, your kidneys filter glucose from your blood and put almost all of it back into your cells to be used as energy. But in some cases, your kidneys eliminate more glucose than normal through the urine. Your healthcare provider may say you have glycosuria if there are more than 0.25 milligrams per milliliter (mg/ml) of glucose in your urine.

Types of Glycosuria 

Glycosuria is often the result of having high blood sugar, which is medically known as hyperglycemia. The condition can also occur if your kidneys are not working well and can’t reabsorb glucose (put glucose back into your cells). But for some people, both high blood sugar and kidney issues that prevent normal glucose reabsorption happen at the same time.

Glycosuria Due to Hyperglycemia

With hyperglycemia, there’s too much blood sugar being filtered, and the kidneys are not able to reabsorb all the glucose that your body needs. The kidneys send waste products from the blood out into the urine. As a result, the excess glucose shows up in the urine. Some common conditions that cause hyperglycemia include:

Glycosuria Due to Kidney Conditions

The kidney tubules are the structures responsible for removing waste through the urine and returning substances like glucose back into the body. If the kidney tubules become damaged and stop working properly, glucose gets released into the urine. Some kidney conditions that can lead to glycosuria include: 

Symptoms of Glycosuria 

Glycosuria doesn’t always cause symptoms. For example, someone with renal glycosuria—a rare type of glycosuria—may have no symptoms. You also might not notice any symptoms early on if glycosuria is caused by chronic kidney disease. But, if glycosuria goes undetected, you may experience symptoms depending on the cause.

In most cases, glycosuria develops because of high blood sugar or diabetes, symptoms may include: 

While less common, Fanconi syndrome (a condition that affects the kidneys) can also cause glycosuria. As a result, you may develop symptoms like urinating more frequently, becoming dehydrated, feeling thirsty, having bone pain and a higher risk of fractures, or developing muscle weakness.

Causes

Glycosuria develops due to high blood sugar and underlying kidney conditions. While conditions that cause high blood sugar are the most common reason you can develop glycosuria, some people also the condition due to kidney problems.

Hyperglycemia

Hyperglycemia is the most common cause of glycosuria. The main condition that causes hyperglycemia is diabetes. In diabetes—whether it’s type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes—problems with insulin (a hormone that allows your body to use sugar as energy) cause your blood sugar to rise. When your blood sugar gets too high, the kidneys try to eliminate the extra glucose by pulling it into the urine, which can cause glycosuria.

Eating large amounts of foods high in carbohydrates (or, carbs) can temporarily cause glycosuria, even in people without diabetes. This is called alimentary glycosuria. Carbs get broken down into glucose, and an excess intake of carbs can increase your blood sugar levels and potentially cause glycosuria to develop.

But other conditions that also affect your blood sugar and insulin levels, like Cushing’s syndrome, chronic pancreatitis (long-term swelling of the pancreas), pancreatic cancer, and insulin resistance, can also raise your blood sugar and increase your risk of glycosuria. 

In some cases, medications like steroids can cause glycosuria by increasing your blood glucose. Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), like Jardiance (empagliflozin) or Invokana (canagliflozin), are diabetes medications that help lower blood sugar by preventing the kidneys from putting glucose back into the blood. In doing so, they can cause glycosuria.

Kidney Conditions

Besides high blood sugar, kidney problems can also result in glycosuria, where glucose ends up in the urine. For example, people with chronic kidney disease sometimes develop glycosuria even without having diabetes. CKD causes long-term damage and decreases kidney function over several months to years. As the kidneys become more damaged, the kidney tubules can leak glucose into the urine.

Renal (kidney) glycosuria happens when damaged kidney tubules cannot reabsorb glucose. This can occur even with normal or low blood sugar levels. In renal glycosuria, your body gets rid of glucose through your urine even though you don’t have high blood sugar. Genetic changes can often cause renal glycosuria, and the condition is sometimes referred to as familial renal glycosuria.  

Fanconi syndrome is another health condition that can affect your kidney tubules. With this condition, the tubules cannot reabsorb many substances, including glucose, amino acids, bicarbonates, and potassium. As a result, glycosuria can occur. Fanconi syndrome can be an inherited disorder or it can develop later in life. In some cases, other underlying health conditions or exposure to certain toxins or chemicals can also cause this condition to occur.

Diagnosis

A urine test (sometimes called a urinalysis) is the most common exam to diagnose glycosuria. This test measures the level of glucose in your urine. It also checks for other things like acid, protein, and white blood cells.

To check for glycosuria, your healthcare provider will have you urinate into a cup to collect a urine sample. Then they’ll dip a thin strip of paper into the urine. The strip changes color if it detects glucose in the urine. 

A healthcare provider may order a urine test if they suspect you have glycosuria or as a part of routine screening. Your provider may want to check your urine sugar levels if:

  • You have symptoms like frequent urination, constant thirst, or unexplained weight loss
  • Other test results show signs of possible kidney problems
  • You're pregnant to check for signs of gestational diabetes

Depending on your symptoms or the reason for the urine test, your healthcare provider may also order blood tests. Blood tests often help diagnose the cause of glycosuria. For example, they may order a fasting blood glucose test, a hemoglobin A1C test, or an oral glucose tolerance test to check for diabetes. If your urine shows glycosuria and your blood glucose level is normal or low, your healthcare provider may do more tests to check your kidneys.

Treatment

Normally, your healthcare provider won't treat glycosuria on its own. They will likely start treatment on the underlying condition that's causing your glycosuria—whether that's diabetes or kidney-related.

For example, if glycosuria is caused by diabetes, treatments may include:

  • Eating a diet focused on lean meats and less processed foods
  • Doing cardio exercises, like brisk walking or swimming
  • Checking your blood sugar levels routinely
  • Taking diabetes medications like Glucophage (metformin) or insulin

If glycosuria is due to gestational diabetes, treatments may include: 

  • Incorporating nutritious foods into your meals
  • Adding physical activity to your daily routine 
  • Using diabetes medications  

When chronic kidney disease is the reason you're experiencing glycosuria, the focus is on treating the kidney disease itself. This can be through measures like controlling blood pressure and avoiding medications that can damage the kidneys further.

If the cause of glycosuria is kidney tubule damage, treating the kidney disorder is key. Renal glycosuria usually does not require treatment. For conditions like Fanconi syndrome, your healthcare provider may focus on managing your symptoms and preventing complications since there is no cure for the condition. Treatment involves avoiding dehydration by drinking enough fluids. Replacing lost electrolytes is also essential.

How To Prevent Glycosuria 

It’s not possible to prevent certain inherited conditions that cause glycosuria—like familial renal glycosuria or Fanconi syndrome. Similarly, type 1 diabetes is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Since there's no known cause or cure, type 1 diabetes is not preventable.

Fortunately, other causes of glycosuria can sometimes be prevented. For example, you can prevent prediabetes from turning into type 2 diabetes. Ways to lower your risk of getting type 2 diabetes include:

  • Losing excess body fat if you live with obesity, as carrying extra weight increases your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
  • Becoming more physically active through exercises such as walking, strength training, or sports
  • Following a nutritious eating plan focused on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein
  • Quitting smoking

Before pregnancy, losing some body fat if you have obesity can also help prevent gestational diabetes later on. This lowers your chance of developing high blood sugar and glycosuria during pregnancy.

To avoid temporary high blood sugar caused by eating large amounts of carbohydrates, consider adding meals with a balance of nutrients instead. This means adjusting your diet to include fewer high-carbohydrate foods and more vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains.

Complications 

If left untreated, the health conditions that cause glycosuria can lead to complications. For example, consistently elevated blood glucose levels from uncontrolled diabetes may eventually lead to:

  • Difficulty seeing at night
  • Legal blindness due to retinal damage
  • Increased risk of heart attack and stroke
  • Slow-healing wounds
  • Frequent infections
  • Nerve injury
  • Kidney damage
  • Weakened immune system

A Quick Review

Glycosuria happens when there’s excess sugar in the urine, often due to high blood sugar, kidney issues, or both. This condition is usually diagnosed through a urine test. However, you may need additional tests to determine what's exactly causing your glycosuria. If you’re concerned about glycosuria or suspect there’s sugar in your urine, contact your healthcare provider so they can identify the cause and offer treatment options that are right for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is glycosuria the same as diabetes?

No, glycosuria and diabetes are not the same thing. Glycosuria refers specifically to having glucose in the urine. Glycosuria often occurs due to high blood sugar and diabetes, but they are not the same condition.

Can glycosuria be cured?

Glycosuria is a sign of an underlying health condition like diabetes or kidney problems. By managing high blood sugar levels in diabetes or treating the kidney condition, the resulting glycosuria can often be resolved. However, some genetic kidney diseases that don't have a cure may continue to cause glucosuria.

Is glycosuria a symptom of prediabetes?

Glycosuria can be a sign of prediabetes. In prediabetes, blood glucose is higher than normal but not high enough to be diabetes. Over time, continuously elevated blood glucose levels in prediabetes can leak into the urine as glycosuria. Additional testing can help determine if prediabetes is the cause of glycosuria. 

For more Health.com news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Health.com.

2024-03-23T16:03:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd