Insulin resistance is a condition where the insulin hormone, which controls blood sugar levels, is unable to function properly. Normally, the body breaks down the food that has been consumed before releasing glucose (or sugar) into the blood. The pancreas secretes insulin to facilitate the entry of glucose, the body’s primary energy source, into muscle, fat, and liver cells, where it can either be used for immediate energy or stored for later use. However, this procedure fails in people who have insulin resistance.
Consider insulin to be the key that opens the cell’s entrance. For glucose to get from the blood into the cell, that door needs to be opened, When a person has insulin resistance, their pancreas continues to produce those “keys,” but they don’t function as well to unlock cells and allow glucose to enter.
Cells begin to ignore insulin’s signal to absorb glucose from the blood in the early stages of insulin resistance. Therefore, the pancreas releases more insulin to transport glucose into cells, and blood sugar levels largely remain normal. However, even at these greater insulin concentrations, cells eventually quit reacting.
Calum Sutherland, a professor of molecular and cellular diabetes at the University of Dundee in the U.K., said: “It’s not like you suddenly stop responding to insulin.” It’s possible that your response will decline by 10% in the beginning, 30% after a few months, and 60% after a few years. Your body gradually loses the ability to react appropriately to insulin as a result. The pancreas eventually can’t keep up, which causes blood sugar levels to increase.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with persistently high blood sugar are either diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, which can cause a number of life-threatening problems if left untreated. Prediabetes is defined as having blood sugar levels that are high but not high enough to fulfill the criteria for diabetes. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 96 million adults in the United States had prediabetes in 2019.
Causes of Insulin Resistance
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the exact cause of insulin resistance is not known. The CDC notes that a number of risk factors, such as being overweight or obese and having a family history of type 2 diabetes, have been related to insulin resistance.
According to the ADA, some experts believe that excess fat tissue may result in inflammation, physiological stress, or other alterations that support insulin resistance. (Insulin resistance also independently causes people to gain weight, creating a vicious cycle.)
Despite the fact that being overweight increases the chance of developing insulin resistance and diabetes, some individuals with these conditions are not overweight. According to WebMD, 10% to 15% of persons with type 2 diabetes are in reality at a healthy weight.
The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse states that inactivity is another risk factor for insulin resistance. Since muscle uses more glucose than other types of tissue and improves at absorbing sugar after exercise, inactivity may result in insulin resistance. This impact is not advantageous to infrequent exercisers.
Another research article published in the journal Comprehensive Physiology in 2021, reveled that aging and insulin resistance are related since people normally lose muscle mass as they age. Less cells capable of consuming high amounts of glucose are present when muscle mass is lower.
Related: How to safely cut down calories.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Most people who are insulin resistant in its early stages don’t have any symptoms and are unaware that they are developing a disease. Additionally, insulin resistance, also known as reduced insulin sensitivity, is not typically diagnosed by doctors; rather, it is only tested in scientific investigations.
An expert has previously said, “We don’t have a threshold where we say someone is insulin resistant. Instead, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, physicians may identify the related illness known as metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by elevated levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar as well as extra abdominal fat.
Many people are unaware of their blood sugar processing issues until they begin to exhibit the lifelong, increasing symptoms of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. According to the Cleveland Clinic, these signs include increased hunger, thirst, and urine as well as impaired vision and sluggish wound and sore healing.
Doctors may perform an A1C blood test to determine a patient’s average blood sugar over the previous three months or a fasting plasma glucose test to see how well the body metabolizes glucose after a patient has fasted for eight hours in order to diagnose high blood sugar.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, doctors may also request tests to aid in the diagnosis of other disorders connected to insulin resistance, such as cardiovascular disease and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal ailment that can affect women of reproductive age.
Insulin Resistance and Diet
Insulin resistance is widespread nowadays, in part due to the Western diet, according to a specialist. (Western diets are typically high in calories, refined grains and ultraprocessed foods and low in fiber.)
Although no one diet has been proven to be the most successful, some diets may increase insulin sensitivity. For instance, a review research published in the 2019 issue of Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine suggests that diets low in simple or processed sugars but high in fiber and complex carbs may be beneficial.
Studies have indicated that the Mediterranean diet, which places an emphasis on consuming fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, seafood, and extra virgin olive oil, reduces insulin resistance.
And other studies have linked lower insulin resistance to the Dietary Interventions to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, and limits sugar, salt, and saturated fats.
Can Insulin Resistance be Reversed
According to Richard Mackenzie, a researcher at the University of Roehampton in the United Kingdom who focuses on insulin resistance and metabolism, insulin resistance can be reversed in some individuals.
We are aware that insulin resistance improves with weight/fat loss, Mackenzie had said. We have learned that a type of weight loss surgery called a gastric bypass can totally correct insulin resistance in a couple of days.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, doctors may advise patients to consume fewer processed carbohydrates as well as less harmful fat, sugar, red meat, and processed starches to support such weight loss.
The National Institutes of Health’s long-running Diabetes Prevention Program revealed that for those at high risk of getting diabetes, losing 5% to 7% of their starting weight helped lower their risks of getting the condition.
A medication called metformin, which lowers the amount of glucose the liver produces and encourages the muscles and other tissues to take up more blood sugar, may be helpful for some individuals with insulin resistance. The Diabetes Prevention Program’s findings revealed that younger adults, obese individuals, and those with a history of gestational diabetes responded best to metformin.