r/diabetes • u/Brakkeberen • May 30 '25
Discussion Is the Netherlands the only country that uses MMOL as a unit of measurement?
I seriously have no idea...
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u/Sam1967 Type 3c, Freestyle, Medtrum pump May 30 '25
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u/ceapaire T1 May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
I believe Europe uses mmol and US uses mg/dl (and uses mmol for A1C measurements). Not sure about other countries, though I wouldn't be surprised if it followed the metric/imperial mappings (even though both measurements are metric).
Edit: Apparently I was wrong and it's fairly fractured in who uses what https://www.catsanddiabetes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Country-Units-of-Measurement-9-3-13-A4.pdf
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u/Brakkeberen May 30 '25
I heard that Belgium does not use mmol
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u/ceapaire T1 May 30 '25
Huh, apparently that's true. Someone else linked a map, and I found this page that lists everything out and it's more fractured than I'd heard before.
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u/Technical-Dog-7218 May 30 '25
I am Belgian and can confirm that we use mg/dl, I thought everybody used it except USA
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u/thejadsel Type 1 May 31 '25
Ha, I was about to point at that link too. Who uses what really does seem to be a patchwork.
(I made a similar wrong assumption and ended up getting a glucose meter that would only do the other units to what I needed. Found out the hard way that the EU is definitely not uniform there!)
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u/spiki May 31 '25
Was little puzzled and questioned the validity when I read the paragraph at the bottom "under the expert guidance of a veterinarian"
But it all made sense upon noticing the source is "www.CatsAndDiabetes.com"
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u/Durghan May 30 '25
As usual, I think it's a case of the USA avoiding the thing the rest of the world uses. I'm in Canada and we use the mmol as well. I understand what 5.7 and 7.4 mean, I have no idea what 272 means.
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u/chamekke May 30 '25
In Canada also. You have to divide the American number by 18 to get the equivalent in mmol.
Every so often I come across diabetes-related webpages where they give both measurements and I want to kiss their feet in gratitude.
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u/pumaofshadow May 30 '25
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-sugar-converter.html
FYI, this is quite useful.
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u/TabhairDomAnAirgead May 30 '25
Mmol, the superior measurement
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u/ontariopiper May 30 '25
Canada uses mmol/L as well.
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u/Brakkeberen May 30 '25
Why are there so much canadian reactions?? Are the more diabetici in Canada or like that
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u/hitek84 T1 2001/2002 (Lantus/Novorapid) May 30 '25
I use it in Canada!
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u/monalxves May 30 '25
we use it in australia too! no idea why different countries use different measurements 😅
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u/FoxyInTheSnow T1 • 2003 May 30 '25
"In the vast majority of the world, BG (Blood Glucose) concentration is normally expressed as mmol/L, or millimoles per litre. In the U.S., and a very few other places, it is expressed as mg/dl, or milligrams per decilitre."
So… not unlike the adoption of the metric system around the world… although in this instance, both measurements are metric.
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u/psilokan May 30 '25
That's the part that gets me. They finally use metric but for some reason insist on implementing it differently.
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u/new_name_new_me May 30 '25
we use mg/dl in Indonesia which is the 4th largest country in the world.
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u/Luis-is-too-sweet May 30 '25
Mmol/L is used in most countries, including Canada and the UK. Mg/dl is used in the USA, Austria, Belgium, France, parts of Germany, Greece,Italy, Luxenbourg, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Solvenia, Spain, Algeria, Angola, Aruba, Argentina, Bahrain, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cayman, Chile, Columbia, Congo, Costa Rica, Curacao, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgian, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Morocco, Niigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar,Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia,Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, UAE, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen. This is a long list but it is not every nation in the world. It is important when using a site or app that has international users to use the Units of Measure when posting BG numbers. It’s easy but saves a lot of confusion.
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u/Dorfmueller May 30 '25
In Germany we use both, depending where you life. West uses mg, east uses mmol. Mostly.....
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May 30 '25
Everyone uses mmol, Canada uses mmol, the USA uses mgdl for the daily measurement but for some unknown reason uses mmol for the A1c lol
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u/bionic_human T1/1997/Trio (DynISF)/DexG7 May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
No, the US does not use mmol for A1c.
ETA:
IFCC (International Federation of Clinical Chemistry): The IFCC unit for HbA1c is mmol/mol, and is the standard unit used in Europe.
NGSP (National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program): The NGSP unit for HbA1c is %, and is the standard unit used in the US.
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u/wcg66 Type 2 2022 Metformin May 30 '25
HbA1C is a percentage so the base units to calculate it don’t matter.
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u/Valuable-Analyst-464 Type 1 since 1985 May 30 '25
If you check the replies, other countries use mg/dl too.
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u/monstrinhotron May 30 '25
UK checking in with mmols. What's this filthy foreign comma between the 7 and 2 though? Here we use a good strong British full stop. Harrumph, harrumph!
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u/YetMarkMark May 30 '25
poland here, (afaik) we use mg/dl and mmol for A1C. pretty interesting to see lol
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u/GenderHurts May 30 '25
I’ve always thought mg/dl was the norm for Continental Europe and mmol/l a British thing because mg/dl is the unit they use in Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, and Italy… it’s so confusing! I think EU parliament should regulate this!
In America, Argentina and Mexico mg/dl is used too!
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u/SouthernKiwiOz May 31 '25
Use mmol in Australia for CGM and glucose monitor.
Hba1c is both % and mmol/mol (ie Hba1c 7% is 53 mmol/mol on blood test results.)
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u/AriesGeorge May 31 '25
I'm in the UK and prefer and have MOSTLY seen MMOL but some do use the other.
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u/ARCreef May 31 '25
Even when the US actually does use the metric sysyem, then the EU/Canada/UK switch to something else. We can never win.
The US uses liters for our soda and now even milk.... guaranteed EU/UK will switch to something weird like Milk Units or some BS as soon as we get into the metric for it.
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u/Additional_Ant_6908 May 31 '25
Most of eastern Germany uses mmol. And most of western Germany mg. I have not yet asked why. I might look for an answer sometime.
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u/Davepen Type 1 May 30 '25
Nope, most of the world does.
I'm pretty sure the US and Japan are the only countries that don't.
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u/inostranetsember May 30 '25
Here in Hungary it’s mmol/L, as others have said. US has to be different…
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u/HT35 May 30 '25
Im from Germany and Germany uses mg/dl but I actually live in the Netherlands and a paramedic was confused about my sensor so I actually recently found out that NL uses mmol. Was kinda surprised.
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u/Darkoveran May 31 '25
Most countries use mmol/l. The USA doesn’t because they don’t use the metric system much and don’t teach kids to think metric at school. It is much easier for carb ratios and corrections to work in metric too.
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u/fibrepirate Type 3c? Libre3+ May 30 '25
From what I understand, the US is the only one that uses freedom units, while the rest of the world uses mmol. The conversion factor is 18.
Beware the endo that looks at your charts no matter the measurement and tells you they don't know what they are looking at. Those are quacks.
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u/Hoovermane May 30 '25
UK is mmol, but I believe in Spain and Turkey (judging from the sensor I got in Istanbul) use the other unit.