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Insulin resistance is now being understood to be a major contributor to the onset of diabetes. While we know that glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin tests can be used to detect diabetes type I or II, many in the general public did not realize that higher glucose levels over a long period of time can create insulin resistance, thus setting the stage for the more serious forms of diabetes in the future.

What causes insulin resistance? One can point to current dietary habits and lack of exercise as the main contributors.

The body’s cells need sugar in order to run their metabolic functions, from brain activity to running to the tasks of everyday living. Most of this sugar is presented to the cells through the bloodstream in the form of glucose. Glucose is produced by the liver from foods that are digested in the stomach and small intestine, and whose components end up in the liver for further processing. The liver produces enough glucose to power the then-needs of the body, while converting the rest of the sugars to fat for storage for later use.

The liver creates glucose from all food types, but is particularly stimulated by the carbohydrates, which are easier to convert to glucose with fewer byproducts (such as ketones, which are poisonous byproducts of the production of glucose from proteins).

Two general types of carbohydrates stimulate the liver in different ways: the ‘simple’ carbohydrates are converted much faster, and create large amounts of glucose relatively quickly after ingestion. Simple carbohydrates include all the things that we love to eat, but are regarded as junk food by the general media: unrefined sugars, such as those found in soft drinks and in our cereals, flour, such as that found in white bread and fried foods, and sugar found in candies like chocolate bars and ‘energy bars,’ which are mainly sugars.

The ‘complex’ carbohydrates, on the other hand, are converted to glucose at a much slower rate, which means that there is less of a glucose peak after one eats complex carbs. Complex carbohydrates include whole-wheat bread, spaghetti and other forms of pasta, and starches found in legumes like beans and potatoes. These are ‘complex’ because the liver must perform a series of chemical transformations before converting to the end-product, glucose.

Insulin resistance is the result of too much glucose circulating in the bloodstream for too long a time. The high levels of glucose stimulate the pancreas (more specifically, the Islets of Langerhans) to produce more insulin. And more insulin circulating in the bloodstream means that the cells are ‘tired’ of the excess of hormonal signal, and develop a resistance to the chemical.

Simple carbs, consumed in too great a quantity, are clear causes of this insulin overproduction. The other factor which contributes is inactivity. That is, the less one exercises, the less the body is able to absorb the glucose which is produced in such high quantities by the liver.

If, for example, one eats too many simple carbs, but goes out and runs for an hour, much of the insulin messages are accepted by the cells, glucose levels are reduced and insulin resistance doesn’t occur.

Insulin resistance is therefore caused by two main factors: the types of food one eats, and the amount of exercise one does after eating. Both affect the level of insulin circulating in the bloodstream, and therefore can have an important influence over insulin resistance by the body’s cells.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on  Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: glucose, insulin resistance, type-2-diabetes

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• Insulin Resistance – How It Starts and What We Can Do about It

PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) is a hormone imbalance that occurs in women, and can often be mistaken for something else. Women who have it have high testosterone and high circulating insulin levels. Without diagnosis, women with PCOS risk infertility, persistent weight gain and, if left untreated for a long period of time, Type-II diabetes.

It’s estimated that over 50% of women with untreated PCOS contract Type-II diabetes before their fortieth birthday. Women with PCOS have a five- to seven-times higher incidence of heart attacks than women of childbearing age without the ailment. PCOS therefore poses an important danger to women, and should be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

What causes PCOS? Simply put, PCOS represents multiple cysts on the ovaries. Cysts originate in follicles which should be producing oocytes (eggs) for reproduction. Because of a higher level of male hormones, these follicles do not fully mature, and instead remain as cysts in the ovaries. Since the follicles don’t mature, the ovaries put out less progesterone and are less likely to have their periods. With less estrogen and progesterone, a woman’s testosterone secretions increased and PCOS results.

These cysts are sources for testosterone, which counteract a woman’s natural estrogen level and lead to other problems. These problems can include excess facial hair, obesity and a diminished number of periods. Although all women secrete some level of male hormones, PCOS-afflicted women’s levels are much higher, which stimulates other symptoms. Other symptoms can include:

1. Acne
2. High cholesterol
3. High blood pressure
4. Thinning hair or male-pattern baldness
5. In more severe cases, patches of brown spots at the elbows, breasts, knees and other points on the body (note: these are also symptoms of Type-II diabetes

In reviewing the symptoms, it is clear that many women with PCOS are at a heightened risk for heart and other circulatory diseases. Of all the symptoms, high and persistent insulin levels may be the most harmful to a woman’s health. This symptom causes blood vessels to constrict, and may lead to insulin-dependent diabetes in some cases if left untreated.

How does one treat PCOS? There is no one perfect therapy. Each woman’s case must be treated in a different way. Those women who suffer from severe symptoms should be given steroids to reduce acute problems. Over the longer term, many women are given one or more of the following:

1. Birth control drugs, in order to regularize their periods and counteract the increased production of male hormones
2. Anti-diabetes medicines, including glucophage and Avastin, to reduce the effects of higher levels of insulin being circulated in the bloodstream.
3. Fertility medications, both to stimulate normal female hormone production and, in the case of infertility, to stimulate a pregnancy. The two drugs most often prescribed are Clomid and mettformin if the Clomid is not enough.
4. In the case of reduced pituitary output, gonadotropins are also administered.
5. Anti-androgens, such as Minoxidil (topical) are administered in order to counteract the male hormones’ influence on hair loss. Their secondary effect is to reduce the overall effect of male hormones on the female body.

If these drugs are not enough, a woman with PCOS can undergo surgery to reduce the number of cysts in the ovaries. By “cyst drilling,” the surgeon can reduce the amount of male hormones and insulin secreted by the ovaries and improve the relative output of estrogen and progesterone. Although any surgery is potentially dangerous (particularly with obese patients), this is a relatively non-invasive procedure which can be performed using laparoscopic tools.

It is estimated that five to ten percent of women have PCOS. Women who have a family history, or are obese, are more likely to contract PCOS.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Insulin Resistance & PCOS.

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Tags: PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, type-2-diabetes

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• What is Insulin Resistance?

PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, is estimated to affect over 10% of women around the world. It is essentially a hormone imbalance which causes women to undergo a series of symptoms. These include:

1. Hair growth in a masculine pattern on the face and elsewhere on the body.
   Infertility
2. Irregular, reduced or a total lack of menstruation. When menstruation does occur, it can be much more heavier than in a ‘normal’ period
3. Insulin resistance, which can result in diabetes
4. Weight gain—many women with PCOS become obese, which exacerbates other symptoms (such as insulin resistance). It can be much more difficult for women with PCOS to lose weight, as compared to women without the syndrome.

The root causes of PCOS are unknown, although several theories abound. A clear sign of PCOS is the production of many follicles on the ovary, none or few of which result in the production of a mature ovum which can be fertilized (hence the problems with infertility in many women with PCOS).

A theory which is gaining currency is that the underlying cause is the failure of the pituitary to secrete enough FSH, or Follicle Stimulating Hormone. This hormone starts the entire cascade of other hormones which leads to a proper fertility cycle. Without enough FSH, the follicles of the ovary are unable to mature effectively, which may lead to the proliferation of immature follicles on the ovarian surface.

The typical ovarian cyst in a woman with PCOS is typically enlarged 5 to 7 times greater than a normally-maturing ovarian cyst. Its larger-than-normal size and the number of immature cysts result in an excess of hormone production. The cysts generally produce androgens (male hormones, like testosterone) and insulin, both of which cause some additional symptoms seen in this syndrome.

Among PCOS’ most serious effects is on the production of insulin and subsequent insulin resistance. Insulin is primarily produced by the pancreas, but also by the follicles on the ovary. Since the follicles are much more numerous, and produce much more insulin, they contribute to an overproduction of insulin in the body.

All cells in the body rely on insulin to take in the right amount of glucose. The liver relies on insulin levels to tell it when to produce more glucose, while the cells (muscles, brain, all cells) rely on insulin to tell them how much glucose to use. In a smoothly-functioning insulin-glucose system, the pancreas secretes insulin in response to the body’s needs—after eating, during exercise, or during rest periods, for example. As you can imagine, the amount of insulin produced over a day can vary a good deal. The system is normally self-regulating. That is, the liver produces more glucose, the cells use more glucose, and insulin production goes down.

In a woman with PCOS, the ovaries become the main insulin producers of the body, overpowering the pancreas and the normal insulin-glucose cycle. Rather than responding to the body’s true needs for insulin, the ovaries continue to secrete larger-than-normal amounts of the hormone, continually assaulting the liver and other cells of the body. Over time, the liver becomes a chronic overproducer of glucose, while the cells become increasingly resistant to the insulin signals. The result is insulin resistance—and a resultant case of diabetes.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on PCOS & Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: Fertility, infertility, insulin resistance, PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

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What is PCOS? It seems to be in the news and on TV programs these days, but it is difficult to understand what it is, and what causes it. PCOS stands for “Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome,” which is, at basis, a condition in which women produce many follicles on their ovaries each month, but generally do not produce a mature egg.

These follicles emit hormones, and wreak havoc on a woman’s hormonal system. Since the follicles emit testosterone, they can cause a woman to grow facial hair. They also secrete insulin, which results in long-term insulin resistance, and can eventually result in full-blown Type II diabetes, which must be treated for the rest of a woman’s life.

PCOS often is the cause for infertility. Many of us know that fertility requires a careful balance of female hormones in order to produce an egg on a regular basis. Since the woman suffering from PCOS has a deficit in estrogen and progesterone—the two primary female hormones associated with fertility and female qualities—she is often unable to produce an egg for fertilization.

What causes PCOS? It’s been called a “syndrome” because the cause is unknown. Although we know that the follicles are overactive and unproductive, we don’t know what causes this activity to take place.

We know that, in a normally-functioning reproductive system, a woman’s ovaries contain all the eggs she will have for her lifetime. These eggs are expressed from puberty to menopause, typically one per month. The mechanism of expression is the follicle, which both grows at the surface of the ovary and issues signaling hormones to let the rest of the body know when an egg is coming.

In a malfunctioning system, more than one follicle develops at a time. The excess of hormones may trigger a ‘defensive’ mechanism in the follicles which prevents their full expression, and thus inhibits overall production of an egg ready for fertilization.

The symptoms of PCOS can be confusing, as they are so diverse. The first indication is a weight gain, despite exercise and proper diet control. Insulin resistance occurs because of a spike in insulin production over a long period of time; the cells of the body receive an oversupply of insulin for so long that they develop an overall resistance, which results in insulin losing its effect to control serum glucose levels and results in a diabetes which needs to be controlled through diet, and sometimes through insulin injections.

Other symptoms can include acne (as a part of the hormonal storm), hair growth, and extremely irregular periods. A woman with PCOS can go for several months with no period, then suddenly have extremely heavy bleeding for a longer-than-usual period of time.

Depression is a common symptom, which may be related to hormone-caused mood swings, or to other underlying causes of the disease. Of course, women who suffer these other symptoms, including infertility, would have reason to feel depressed.

Until recently, few physicians were trained to recognize PCOS. There are now a good deal more articles in the scientific literature on how both to recognize and treat the syndrome.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on  PCOS & Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: estrogen, infertility, insulin resistance, PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, type-2-diabetes

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It is important for all individuals to maintain an active lifestyle for good mental and physical health. It is just as important for the older person who has type-2 diabetes to stay physically active for their good health. The reason is that exercise can actually improve the sugar control that is so important to managing diabetes. Contracting and relaxing muscles uses up energy.

As the body produces energy it uses the sugar supply in the blood during the time that you are exercising. This reduces the blood sugar level in your system. Exercise also increases the body’s ability to use insulin. This equates to your body needing less insulin in the process of taking sugar into your body cells, which can also reduce the blood sugar levels.

It is wise to let your physician know that you are thinking about starting a new exercise program. Your doctor will advise you regarding your diabetes and how to design a program around your ability, age and health needs.

Some of the questions you may have:

How long to exercise? How Often? How hard do you exercise?

Normally you need to exercise a minimum of 30 minutes in order to improve you fitness level. If you have difficulty doing 30 minutes, start out at 10, then increase to 15 until in a few weeks you work up to 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Those persons needing to lose weight you may want to set a goal of 60 or more minutes of exercise.

Three times a week is how often to exercise that is usually recommended, your physician can give you a better individual guideline.

Determining how hard to exercise may be a little more difficult. In order to determine the degree of exercise, it’s extremely helpful to determine your heart rate. Some exercise equipment comes with monitors to help you determine this. You want to increase your heart rate and breathing rate to sufficient levels so that you are doing your heart well without causing exhaustion. Generally if you can sing while doing the exercise, you are not exercising hard enough. If you can talk, but are a little out of breath, you are at the appropriate level. If, however you cannot talk at all during exercising, you are in the “too hard” level and you need to take it down a level.

Exercise Tips:

Start with mild exercising if you have been inactive for a while. Gradually increase the time you exercise and how hard you exercise.

Start with 3 times a week and work up to 5 times a week.

Drink plenty of water before during and after exercising. Dehydration can affet your blood sugar levels, so stay hydrated!

Always carry diabetic identification with you while exercising

Choosing low-impact exercising is kinder to your bones and will lower your risk of injury. Good low-impact exercising: walking & swimming

Yoga and Pilates are great strengthening and flexibility activities

Avoid doing exercises that are high in intensity or involve lifting weights.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Insulin Resistance & Diabetes.

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Tags: blood sugar level, diabetes, insulin resistance, type-2-diabetes

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It used to be clear that Juvenile, or Type-I diabetes, occurred only with children, and Type-II (“Adult Onset”) diabetes occurred solely among adults. While Type-I diabetes remains a problem of the young, and has a different etiology than Type-II diabetes, both are climbing in incidence. Each has a different cause, and can be treated in different ways.

The classic definition of Type-I diabetes was a reduction in the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin. The insulin-producing parts of the pancreas—the Islets of Langerhans (a good trivia question on your college biology exam)—would somehow lose their ability to produce insulin. As a result, children of otherwise normal weight and constitution would need to move relatively quickly to treat their affliction, or die in a diabetic coma.

Recently, we’ve learned that much of Type-I diabetes occurs because children develop a form of auto-immune reaction to their own pancreatic cells. This hyperreaction to the body’s own cells results in a destruction of the Islets of Langerhans, and results in a lifelong need to replace insulin production with injections.

Type-I diabetes is a serious pathology, which can lead to much-increased levels of blindness, heart disease and neuropathies. If not treated properly, Type-I diabetics can contract diabetic ulcers of their feet and legs, leading to amputation.

We’ve seen a revolution in diabetes treatment with long-term insulin, better diagnosis, and, more recently, insulin pumps. The longer-lasting insulin gives the body a chance to respond in a more-normal way to spikes in glucose levels. Diagnosis has been improved through the institution of glycosylated hemoglobin tests, which are more reliable in predicting longer-term glucose levels. Finally, insulin pumps have allowed Type-I diabetics to better match their insulin production with their food intake, thus reducing the deleterious effects of too-high glucose in the bloodstream.

Type-II diabetes has been called “adult onset,” as it is closely linked to obesity caused by consumption of high-sugar, high-fat diets and a lack of exercise. Once exclusively a preserve of adults, Type-II diabetes has become an increasingly-common fixture amongst teens. It’s estimated that 13% of teens today have Type-II diabetes in the US.

This syndrome of early-stage obesity and resulting Type-II diabetes was almost unknown 20 years ago. The proliferation of junk foods and a sedentary lifestyle have caused the obesity epidemic, which in turn has resulted in an epidemic of Type-II diabetes throughout the population.

Type-II diabetes affects the body in much the same way as Type-I diabetes over the long term. While some people with Type-II diabetes can become insulin-dependent, some drugs (such as glucophages) can diminish the deleterious effects of excess insulin and glucose circulation. People with Type-II diabetes nevertheless encounter higher incidences of heart disease—estimates are three to seven times as high as non-diabetics—and related diseases, such as strokes, neuropathy and kidney disease.

It is clear that more exercise and weight loss can reverse the diabetic effects of insulin resistance. Since few obese patients are willing or able to increase exercise or reduce caloric intake, many are condemned to suffer the lifelong consequences of diabetes.

Type-I diabetes will be treated in the future by drugs and devices which reduce the body’s tendency in some people to attack its own cells. Anti-inflammatory drugs, immune suppressants and, in the future, more targeted drugs will improve the outlook for such people. Better and earlier diagnosis, coupled with this better therapy, will reduce the overall rate of Type-I diabetes.

Type-II diabetes, on the other hand, will continue to climb dramatically, along with the rate of obesity in this country. Without a clear strategy to reduce obesity, we must resign ourselves to the fact that more and more people will suffer from Type-II diabetes, and the resulting co-morbidities.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on  Insulin Resistance & Diabetes.

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Tags: glucose, type-2-diabetes

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Insulin resistance affects tens of millions in the United States. While insulin resistance can run in families, it is most influenced by lack of activity and the consumption of too much unrefined sugar. Both lead to an overweight condition, which then makes the problem of insulin resistance worse.

In order to understand insulin resistance, it is first important to understand how the body’s normal insulin-glucose cycle works, then what can go wrong with this cycle.

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin resistance is just what it sounds like—the pancreas produces more insulin than the body’s cells need. What’s more interesting is how insulin resistance develops in the first place.

How Should the Insulin Cycle Work Normally?

Your body has a finely-tuned mechanism for determining how much sugar is needed in the cells in order to function properly. The cycle goes like this:

1. The body has some glucose in each of its cells. Cells use up glucose due to activity. Brain cells use glucose if you’re thinking a lot (like doing a math problem or writing a speech). In fact, brain cells use around 20% of all the glucose your entire body needs—it’s an area that needs constant glucose in order to function!
2. The pancreas detects that the cells need more fuel—glucose—to carry on their functions. This organ produces insulin and sends it into the bloodstream. In a properly-functioning system, the cells absorb the insulin, which then triggers them to absorb more glucose.
3. The cells, triggered by the insulin, take in more glucose to keep their functions going.
4. As the level of circulating glucose declines, the insulin spurs your liver to produce more glucose. If it has lots of sugars nearby, it will use those (like when you’ve just eaten a candy bar). If there is less sugar, it will go to complex carbohydrates. If there’s none of that around, the liver will convert fat to glucose.
5. The glucose then circulates in your bloodstream and finds its way to the cells, whose appetite has been whetted by the insulin that they’ve absorbed.

And If I’m Insulin-Resistant, How does It Go Wrong?

The body’s finely-tuned insulin-glucose cycle worked well when we were all pursuing active lifestyles. The caveman hunters who had to run after prey every day got lots of exercise. And they ate foods that were unprocessed: game meats, complex carbohydrates (whole grains such as rice or wheat) and lots of fiber from tubers and other vegetables. The body never had an excess of sugars, as they just weren’t available in the diet.

This virtuous cycle persisted until a hundred years ago. People still worked hard in the factories and the fields, and food was generally wholesome.

In modern times, sedentary lifestyles and the high consumption of refined starches (like white bread) and sugars (like soft drinks or juice) have led to a disruption of this insulin-glucose cycle. The body consumes too much sugar and the cells use too little glucose. The result: circulating glucose levels and circulating insulin levels remain high as the pancreas tries to offset the overabundance of sugars in our system. Over time the cells become resistant to insulin, which means that ever-increasing amounts are required for the same response.

The result is insulin resistance. It’s a plague, but one that can be combatted by reducing our intake of refined sugars, losing a few pounds, and getting off the couch and putting our muscles to work!

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: complex carbohydrates, diabetes, glucose, insulin resistance, whole grains

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We are suffering an obesity epidemic in the United States. About 66 million people are classified as ‘obese,’ which means that they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30%. That means that a person’s body is over 30% fat.

Morbid Obesity: An Epidemic

Even more concerning is the number of ‘morbidly obese’ people in the US. One in six, or over 10 million people, is defined in this category. That means that they have a BMI of 40 or greater. When you assume that a healthy person has a BMI of 20 or less, a morbidly-obese person has over twice the body fat of a person at a healthy weight.

We all know that morbid obesity can cause heart problems and strokes. What many don’t know is that morbidly obese people suffer from high rates of diabetes. For the most part, their diabetes emerges because they don’t exercise enough and eat too much.

How the Body Processes Food

The body has a clever way to process the food we eat, as long as we eat in a healthy way. The food we eat is converted by the liver to glucose (for energy) and fat (for fat storage). If the body needs energy, our cells can process the glucose circulating in our bloodstream. As we ‘burn’ those sugars, the body sends signals to the pancreas to produce more insulin.

Our cells absorb the increasing insulin in the bloodstream, which tells them to absorb more glucose. Falling glucose levels stimulate the liver to send more energy to the cells. The liver ‘decides’ between converting more food to glucose, or converts the fats in our body to glucose.

That’s how it works in a well-functioning body.

Our Systems Can Break Down

If we become morbidly obese, this self-correcting mechanism can go haywire. Obese people eat too much food, especially sugars and starches (breads, sugary drinks, candy, etc.). The liver, overwhelmed, pushes too much glucose into our bloodstream. As a result, the pancreas produces more insulin, and the cells end up absorbing both glucose and insulin.

Over time, your cells—brain, muscle, other body cells—becomes oversaturated with insulin. That means that the cells need more and more insulin to evoke the same glucose-absorbing response. This need for more and more insulin stems from ‘insulin resistance,’ or the increasing need of your body’s cells to have insulin in order to function normally.

A good counter to insulin resistance is to exercise. Even if we’re obese, exercise causes the cells to absorb more glucose, and the insulin resistance drops.

Diet and Exercise for the Morbidly Obese

Another way to reduce this problem is to eat less, or eat differently. If we eat fewer starches and sugars, our liver is likely to be less overloaded, and pushes out less glucose. The pancreas is stimulated less to produce insulin, and the cells’ insulin resistance falls.

How about doing both? Even if you retain your body weight, insulin resistance can go down with better diet and exercise. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for morbidly obese people to exercise, and they’re also more likely to eat food that overloads their system, for physical and psychological reasons.

What does insulin resistance do to the body? It narrows the arteries, cutting off circulation in the heart, the lungs, and the extremities. Left long enough, it will permanently damage the pancreas and lead to insulin-dependent diabetes. Diabetes is especially bad for the morbidly obese, who generally suffer from many problems at the same time.

What do you or someone you love do if you suffer from morbid obesity and insulin resistance? Even if you’ve tried to lose weight and can’t, change your diet to reduce sugars. Exercise as much as you can. Your body will grow healthier without any other changes, and your chances of developing chronic diabetes will go down.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity

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Insulin resistance has reached epidemic proportions in the developed world. Closely associated with obesity, the main causes are too many refined sugars and starches, and inactivity. What is insulin resistance? What causes it, and what can we do to get rid of it?

Although there are certainly pharmaceuticals to deal with insulin resistance, it’s always better to understand the sources of the syndrome and deal with them in a natural way. The good news is that insulin resistance can be reduced or eliminated by a few simple changes to our diet and lifestyle.

How Does Our Insulin-Glucose Cycle Work in a Normal Mode?

Normally, our body produces insulin in response to activity. As our muscles and brain and other cells use energy (through physical activity or brain activity), they naturally absorb more fuel—glucose, for the most part—from the circulating bloodstream. Insulin intensifies this absorption; the more insulin in the bloodstream, the more glucose gets absorbed by the cells.

The pancreas senses this lower glucose level and produces more insulin. That hormone triggers the liver to produce more glucose, and should, in a properly-functioning body, trigger the cells to absorb more glucose. Thus the well-functioning insulin-glucose cycle keeps a balance of insulin and glucose circulating in the body, and adjusts as we are active in order to feed more glucose to the cells.

How Does Insulin Resistance Develop?

Insulin resistance is caused by a combination of two key factors, and made worse by a third. If a person doesn’t exercise very much, their body’s cycle can be pushed awry:

1. The cells don’t take up much glucose, because they aren’t very active (couch potatoes, apply here!).
2. If we eat something, the liver will produce more glucose, which increases the level in the bloodstream.
3. The higher glucose level spurs the pancreas to produce more insulin; the insulin tells the cells “wake up, and take in more glucose!”
4. As the cells don’t need the additional fuel, they cover their ears and say “I don’t believe you, insulin, because I don’t need more glucose.”
5. The result is insulin resistance—cells require more insulin to absorb the same amount of sugars.

Poor diet only makes this cycle worse. The more sugary snacks and refined starches (such as white bread and sugary soft drinks) we consume, the more glucose the liver produces. The liver can’t help it—it can’t convert all those sugars fast enough, so a lot leaks through the system and ends up in the bloodstream.

Seeing all this sugar in the bloodstream, the pancreas produces more insulin, the cells hold their ears and don’t believe the insulin, and insulin resistance gets worse.

What Can We Do Against Insulin Resistance?

The simple answer is: exercise more and eat fewer refined sugars and starches. Neither change needs to be drastic: just cutting out a couple of soft drinks or candy bars between meals can help our glucose levels return to normal. And a brisk walk or even brain activity (no, watching TV doesn’t count) can help the cells to absorb more insulin and glucose. Order is restored to the glucose-insulin cycle.

Oh yes, there is one more think that helps: lose a few pounds. Just 5-10% reductions in body weight can bring us back to ‘normal’ range for insulin use.

So it’s as easy as that? It’s always easy to tell others how to get healthy. But these simple changes in lifestyle will make a huge difference to your chances of developing insulin resistance—and eventually succumbing to Type-2 diabetes.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: diet, exercise, glucose, insulin resistance, obesity

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Insulin resistance appears to have a major effect on heart disease. Work at Stanford Medical Center, the University of Buffalo Medical Center, and other medical research facilities have pointed to the higher incidence of CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) amongst patients with insulin resistance. Congestive Heart Failure is a rapidly-growing healthcare problem in the United States, with over five and a half million people suffering from the consequences of an inefficient, enlarged heart. Many in later stages are unable to walk or even get out of bed.

CHF can come from many sources, but insulin resistance is an independent causative factor which does not depend on lack of exercise or obesity to cause its damage to the heart and circulatory system.

How does insulin resistance affect heart health? The answer is difficult, as it is tied to complex interactions between various hormone levels and the reaction of organs to chronically higher levels of insulin in the blood. Those who have insulin resistance tend to have other factors (or ‘co-morbidities’) which, taken on their own, also increase the dangers to the heart and circulatory system.

For example, patients with insulin resistance also have lower levels of HDL (high-density lipids), the ‘good’ cholesterol which is associated with fewer heart attacks, and higher levels of LDL (low-density lipids), which are associated with artery-clogging plaque. They also tend to have higher blood pressure, another heart risk factor.

What lies behind these greater co-morbidities, and resultant risk for patients? Androgen levels were found to be higher in patients with insulin resistance, and androgen is the male hormone that is associated with stress and increased heart disease. Just as estrogen seems to have some heart-helping qualities, androgen has some inhibitors to heart health, both by diminishing estrogen levels and increasing stress-related inflammation.

In addition to the hormonal effects, high insulin levels in the blood over a longer period of time can lead to breakdowns in organs, particularly those sites in the body where changes arteries and capillaries can result in food and oxygen starvation. Diabetics are generally known to have higher incidences of heart disease, but they are also much more likely to have problems with lower leg circulation (because the blood circulates particularly slowly in the legs), vision (because of the network of small capillaries in the eyes, which are subject to blockage) and peripheral vascular systems, such as kidneys and the carotid arteries.

Recent work in Canada points to the effect of insulin resistance on inflammation and associated plaque production. Plaque is implicated in a number of diseases, including that which causes ‘silent’ heart attacks in individuals who seem healthy. The effect of insulin resistance on plaque formation could be a primary one, or a secondary effect from other hormonal and metabolic changes in the body related to cholesterol levels and inflammation.

The overall conclusion in early research is clear. Insulin resistance poses problems to the body directly, through influence of high levels of insulin to critical organs, and indirectly, through influence on the secretion of other hormones and inflammatory substances which can lead to heart disease. While many diabetic patients are insulin-resistant, and diabetic patients tend to have much higher rates of heart disease, insulin resistance in itself poses an increased risk of complications for patients.

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John Lonergan is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on  Insulin Resistance.

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Tags: cholesterol, insulin resistance, stanford medical center, stress

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