What Is Insulin Resistance?
First things first, you may be wondering what insulin is before we even get to insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to glucose in your blood and helps get the glucose into your cells (muscle, liver, and fat), where it gets used for energy.
After you eat, your blood glucose or blood sugar levels rise and then insulin is secreted to lower the blood glucose again and keep it in the normal range.
Insulin resistance is when the cells in your fat, muscles and liver ignore the message from insulin and can’t take up the glucose as effectively as they should, and then the pancreas makes more insulin. So, in effect, the normal amount of insulin is now no longer enough to manage the blood sugar levels. This can go on for a while and the pancreas can manage to secrete more insulin and balance the blood sugar. But over time, the blood sugar levels will rise and increase the risk of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Signs of Insulin Resistance
Generally, some of the signs of insulin resistance are hidden until you get a blood test. Some common signs of insulin resistance include:
- High waistline measurements - over 102 cm in males and over 88 cm in women.
- Blood pressure of 130/80 or higher
- High fasting glucose levels
- High fasting triglycerides
- Skin tags
- Dark velvety skin patches - acanthosis nigricans
- Fatigue - as the body not converting glucose to energy
- Difficulty losing weight with exercise and diet changes
Risk Factors for Insulin Resistance
Genetic risk factors make you more likely to get insulin resistance and certain lifestyle factors. They include:
- Being overweight or obese (especially belly fat)
- 45 years or older
- Brother, sister, or parent with diabetes
- Ethnicity - it’s more likely if your ancestry is African, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders
- Sedentary lifestyle (inactivity)
- Diets high in refined carbohydrates, high-fat foods, and processed foods
How Is It Diagnosed?
- Glucose levels - via an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Look at fasting glucose, then measure it 1 and 2 hours after an oral glucose drink.
- HbA1C - measures the bound haemoglobin by measuring average blood glucose over three months.
- Insulin levels - can be done as part of the OGTT. The fasting insulin and then 1- and 2-hour insulin were measured after the glucose drink.
- Lipid profile - your doctor or health professional may also test total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides.
How To Reduce Insulin Resistance
- Achieve and maintain healthy body weight - losing excess fat mass, particularly belly fat, is a well-known way to prevent insulin resistance
- Exercise regularly- physical activity improves insulin resistance.
- Sleep - It's important to get enough sleep, ideally between 7-9 hours, and ensure it's of good quality as this can enhance insulin sensitivity.
- Quit smoking.
- Good quality diet - tips for avoiding insulin resistance include lots of fresh, unprocessed foods, and limiting highly processed, refined or high-fat foods. It's also best to limit the intake of carbohydrates to avoid the overproduction of insulin.
- Intermittent fasting- has also been shown to reduce insulin resistance and allows the beta cells in the pancreas (that produce insulin) to regenerate. Although data is still needed from more long-term trials.
- Chromium supplementation of 200 mcg a day has been shown to support healthy glucose metabolism and help maintain healthy blood glucose levels in healthy people.
