The Best Glucose Drink Alternatives for Pregnancy

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There are some great glucose drink alternatives out there today for pregnant women!

Pregnancy is a beautiful time in a woman’s life. Your body is bringing new life into this world and God is calling you to motherhood.  It can also be one of the most challenging things a woman goes through in her life.

After having four beautiful children of my own, I can certainly attest to the fact that pregnancy is no walk in the park. Your body changes at tremendous speed, hormone shifts cause emotions you didn’t even know you had, and you have appointment after appointment it seems checking in on baby.

One of the most common complaints I hear as an RN is that women hate to take that awful glucose drink which is used to test blood glucose levels between 24-28 weeks of pregnancy. I hope to give you some hope in this blog post on some of the best glucose drink alternatives you can bring up to your provider if you don’t want to use the traditional glucola drink.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this blog post should be used as medical advice. Always bring up with your medical or healthcare provider any changes you wish to implement into your pregnancy health plan 

*Taylor(The Clean Living Nurse) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

What is the 1-hour glucose test?

This test, otherwise known as the “one-hour glucose challenge” or “oral glucose tolerance test” measures the pregnant woman’s body response to sugar. The test is recommended by the ACOG or American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as up to 7% of pregnancies are complicated by diabetes mellitus as insulin resistance is on the rise.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes, which is diabetes or high blood sugars that only occur during pregnancies is also on the rise . Things such as increases in sedentary lifestyle, metabolic syndrome, and obesity are all risk factors for gestational diabetes. Even if you eat a healthy diet, you could still be at risk for gestational diabetes.

The problem with gestational diabetes is that it can increase the risk for premature birth, stillbirth, and babies that weigh too much causing the need for cesarean section.

If this is your first pregnancy, you might be wondering what this glucose test entails. You might also be wondering if there are any other options out there. The answer is, yes! There are alternatives you can bring up to your practitioner or midwife if that is a route you wish to choose. 

The one-hour glucose challenge test requires a pregnant woman to drink a beverage called glucola or another off-brand. This drink might be orange or different colored. It contains 50 grams of sugar. Even if you enjoy sugary drinks, I think you will think this drink is over the top! The pregnant woman will receive this drink around 24-28 weeks of gestation.

Some practitioners allow you to drink the drink at home fasting. Other practitioners might make you come in while fasting and drink the glucola drink at the healthcare facility. Either way, you should typically be fasting for about 2 hours before drinking the glucola drink. The drink will be drunk within 5 minutes (chug, chug!) and the time will be noted when it is completed. You will then wait about an hour and your blood will be drawn and you will receive the test results. The typical aim is for your blood sugar to be below 140.

What Happens if Your blood sugar is above 140?

Unfortunately, this is a sign that gestational diabetes mellitus might be at play and your provider will most likely order another screening that tests for longer periods. If you came in at 140 and below, you should be good to go unless your provider has other concerns.

What is the problem with the Glucoa drink?

I think as a healthcare system, we have so many better options these days for glucose drink alternatives. Here are the main reasons I and many people these days aren’t fans of the glucoa drink: ingredients that we don’t want in our bodies or passed to our babies.

• Artificial dyes/artificial colors– yes the drinks are dyed artificially. We now know that artificial dyes are not good for our health. Artificial dyes are banned in Europe but not in the United States. We know that artificial dyes can cause hyperactivity in children, behavioral problems, and are a probable carcinogen according to a study done by NCBI. The drink does not need to be dyed, right? 
• Sodium Benzoate– this is a preservative that is unfortunately found in a lot of packaged, processed foods to keep them shelf stable, but it’s something I believe should be avoided in pregnancy. Studies have shown that the problem is that this chemical can turn into benzene which is a known carcinogen.
• Brominated Vegetable Oil– yet another food additive that is banned in Europe (are we seeing a pattern here?) An article done by CBS News reports that BVO has been linked to several health issues including: fatigue, nervous system damage, headaches, loss of muscle coordination, and memory issues. BVO is also used as an ingredient in flame retardants. Scary!
• Artificial Flavors– I am not a fan of artificial flavors just for the reason alone in the name. It’s “artificial flavoring”

The best glucose test alternatives for pregnancy

Hopefully by now you have been awakened about the true ingredients of the glucola drink. My goal is to empower you to look at other options as there are some available! Here is a list you can take to your provider to see if any of these options will work for you and your pregnancy:

The Fresh Test

I was so happy to find The Fresh Test when I was pregnant a year ago with my fourth baby. It is a drink just like glucola but without any of the additives or dyes. It has only 3 simple ingredients: organic dextrose, crystallized lemon, and organic mint! It’s basically a very sweet lemonade, it tastes great! It comes in a packet and is mixed with 10 oz of water

Depending on your needs you can get the 50-gram, 75-gram, or 100-gram test, just ask your provider which one you will need. Most will start with the 50-gram and go from there if you don’t pass the initial test. The Fresh Test has grown to be the third most popular non-glucola glucose test in the U.S.

The Fresh Test is becoming widely known to a lot of providers today, so if you bring it up to your provider they may know about it. LabCorp a huge provider of laboratory services now offers the The Fresh Test as an option to the glucola drink and is referenced on their ACOG (American College of Obstetrician and Gynecologists) recommendations.

As I mentioned above, I took the 50-gram Fresh Test as my glucose challenge test and I passed with flying colors.

Blood Sugar Monitoring

Another option is to ask your provider if you can check your blood sugar levels at home using a glucometer. You will have to get with your provider on how many times you need to test per day and log your results to give to your provider, but this is a good alternative. A lot of midwives are open to doing this option. I used this option for my third pregnancy. My blood sugar was checked multiple times a day and written down on a log for my midwife. I did a week’s worth of daily blood sugars. Everything checked out well for my midwife for my blood sugar results and no further testing was needed.

The only downfall to this method is it requires you to prick your finger multiple times and collect blood sugars using a glucometer. If you don’t like poking yourself or the sight of blood, this method is probably not for you.

Hemoglobin A1C testing

If you aren’t too excited to take your blood sugars, you could ask your provider if A1C testing could be an option for you. Hemoglobin A1C is a blood test taken by your provider that gives an average blood sugar level over the past three months. It gives a picture of where your blood sugars are falling and can let your provider know if you are at risk for gestational diabetes.

Jelly Bean Method

Consuming 28 jelly beans is the equivalent of about 50 grams of glucose. A study done by Pubmed compared 136 participants who were randomly assigned to drink the 50g glucola drink and the other half 28 jelly beans and then have their blood drawn 1 hour later. The conclusion found that there were no significant differences between the two results. Pretty cool! I’d much rather choose to eat 28 organic jelly beans! Again, ask your provider if this might be an option for you.

Orange Juice, other fruit juices, or Natural Soda

Orange juice in itself is very high in natural sugars, as well as soda. An average 16 oz glass of orange juice packs about 40 grams of sugar so this may also be an option as well. I like this brand for orange juice it is a good natural alternative to the glucola test. Soda is always high in sugar! if you and your provider choose this route, I would make sure you aren’t drinking sodas with high fructose corn syrup. Izze is a good natural brand, with 20g roughly in each can. You could consume two of those before your test.

Can I refuse the glucose test when pregnant?

You can technically refuse anything medical wise, but it’s not a good idea. Gestational diabetes can be a very serious issue for the pregnant woman and unborn child. I would bring up the concerns with your healthcare practitioner and see if any of these above options can be an option for you.

What are other ways to test glucose?

​ See all the options above!

​What can I eat instead of glucola?

Always check with your healthcare provider, but organic jelly beans might be an option!

How can I make my glucose test easier?

Don’t stress out about it! Eat a normal, regular healthy diet as normal and discuss the above mentioned options with your healthcare practitioner.

I hope this blog post was helpful to discuss with your provider on different glucose drink alternatives for your pregnancy! Be sure to check out my post on 9 natural remedies for pregnancy insomnia as well!