Several years ago, the Journal of Diabetic Nursing did a comprehensive test of numerous bloodsugar meters and found:

Given that the mean of this variation was nearly 14%, these study results would also suggest that glucose meters are not performing to an acceptable standard and that glucose meters can only operate with satisfactory analytical performance in ideal conditions.

No doubt, if you use the same meter, you can tell something about whether you are improving or not, bloodsugar wise. But is the meter accurate?

More recently (July 18, 2009), the New York Times reported that the call for an increase in meter accuracy is growing. See Standards Might Rise on Monitors for Diabetics. The New York Times article cites to a government study which concluded:

Monitor results can vary significantly so that agreement among them is poor. Standardization is necessary to minimize variability and to improve patient care.

This is depressing stuff. And likely dangerous. Your editor has been using an Accu-Chek Compact meter throughout all the "diets" posted on this page (some available only to Registered Users). As a tribute to this article, he went out and purchased a TrueTrack bloodsugar meter the other day and will, for a while at least, post both numbers (Accu-Chek and TrueTrack) in the current diet. Perhaps that will give us a visual idea of differences between meters. And, after your editor finishes the TrueTrack strips on hand, he will switch to another meter and compare that to Accu-Chek, and so on, til he tires of this business or until the government sets some standards for accuracy.  He will likely base his choice of the next meter on the results of John's Poll, elsewhere on this page.

On November 2, 2009, your editor added the One Touch Ultra BloodSugar testing device to the ongoing test he is running in the Editor's Long Term Low Carb diet.  We will be looking for differences in the three meters.  What to do?  If two agree more often than not, does that mean they are more accurate or that they are both more inaccurate?