Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

Written by Michael Corrieri

Insulin resistance is defined as a condition that occurs when the body produces insulin, but can’t use it properly.

Being insulin resistant increases your chances of developing type 2 diabetes. Insulin helps your body utilize glucose or sugar, for energy. Insulin is a hormone that is made in the pancreas. Your digestive system breaks down the food you eat, turning it into glucose. This glucose then travels in the bloodstream to all your body’s cells. This glucose in the blood is called blood glucose, or blood sugar.

After you’ve eaten, your blood glucose levels rise and the pancreas releases the insulin it has made. This insulin helps the cells absorb and use the glucose to make energy.

Insulin Resistance

But in people who are insulin resistant the cells in their muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond correctly to the insulin. This causes their pancreas to work overtime in order to produce more insulin to help the glucose enter the cells in those areas.

Overtime the pancreas becomes unable to keep up with the body’s insulin needs and the glucose levels will buildup in the bloodstream. When this happens, the body begins to develop diabetes.

Many people who are insulin resistant will have not only a high level of glucose in the blood, but of insulin. And this can occur at the same time. Learning about insulin resistance and determining if you could be a candidate for this condition, might keep you from developing diabetes if you take the steps to help your body correct this condition.

Signs and Symptoms of Insulin Resistance

Fatigue is the most common symptom of insulin resistance. It is fatigues of all types: physical fatigue, mental fatigue, just always being tired and ready to sleep. A more specific sign is that many people who are insulin resistant will become extremely sleepy right after eating a meal that is made up of over twenty to thirty percent carbohydrates. Examples of foods that are high in carbohydrates include beans, breads, bran, cereal, pastas, potatoes, and rice.

Mental fatigue can be seen as a loss of memory and creativity, or getting poor grades in school. Some forms of learning disabilities can be accredited to insulin resistance.

Another sign of insulin resistance is hypoglycemia in conjunction with physical and mental fatigue. If you are insulin resistant you may also feel jittery and agitated, or moody.

Risk Factors for Insulin Resistance

There are specific genes that have been identified by scientists that indicate a person is more likely to develop the condition of insulin resistance, and then diabetes. So this condition is hereditary.

Being overweight and physically inactive both add to the chances of your developing this condition.

If you become insulin resistant and have high blood glucose, there are additional conditions that will increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes plus cause additional damage to your blood vessels and heart. You have more risk if you carry excess weight around your waist, have high cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, or have high blood pressure.

There is something called metabolic syndrome, or insulin resistance syndrome that occurs when you have several of these problems at the same time. So for example, if you are resistant to insulin, have high blood pressure, and carry extra weight around your stomach, you have metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome

The definition for metabolic syndrome is simple, if you have three or more of the following conditions, you have it. The conditions are:

Having a blood pressure of 130/85 or above.
If you are taking high blood pressure medication.
Men having a waist measurement of forty inches or more.
Women having a waist measurement of thirty-five inches or more.
Having an HDL or good cholesterol level that is below 50mg/dL for women.
Having an HDL level that is below 40mg/dL for men.
Taking medication for low HDL levels.
Taking medication for high levels of triglycerides.
Having a triglyceride level at or above 150mg/dL.
Having a fasting blood glucose level of 100mg/dL or higher.
Taking medication for elevated blood glucose levels.

Summary

Having insulin resistance may make you more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. You can combat insulin resistance by being physically active and staying at an appropriate weight. There is a lot of information on the types of food you should and shouldn’t eat, and the most common recommendation for insulin resistance is that you stay away from fats, sweets, and alcohol.