Informational Articals - Insulin - Insulin Resistance

Individuals with Type I diabetes generally respond very well to insulin to help regulate their blood sugar. Most individuals with Type II diabetes aren’t able to benefit from insulin though because their body doesn’t respond to it. In order to find out if a person is going to respond to insulin as an effective treatment for diabetes various types of testing are conducted.

During this type of testing the individual has to fast for at least 24 hours in order for the results to be read accurately. They are then given 75 grams of glucose they drink. After two hours the level of glucose in the body is measured. There is a scale doctor’s use to measure the effectiveness of insulin for that person.

There isn’t any known cause for insulin resistance that researchers have been able to identify. It is believed it has to do with a person’s genetic coding though. Approximately 10% of the population is believed to experience insulin resistance. Most of them don’t realize it though because they are healthy enough not to have to depend on insulin.

For some patients they are immediately resistant to the effects of insulin while others find they build up a resistance to it over time. This is why doctors will routinely conduct an insulin resistance test every year or so for those who suffer from diabetes. In some cases there has been a link between not getting enough exercise and weight gain resulting in a person becoming insulin resistant.

Once they returned to a normal diet and weight they were able to benefit from insulin again. This means there could be many different reasons for an insulin resistance to occur for an individual. One issue that remains unsolved is the question of insulin resistance causing Type II diabetes because it can’t be controlled or is the insulin resistance a result of the person having Type II diabetes instead of Type I?

There is still plenty of research and testing that needs to be conducted in the area lf insulin resistance. Setting up clinical trials with individuals who suffer from it can help to verify or discredit different theories relating to it. For individuals who suffer from diabetes not being able to benefit from insulin can be very frustrating.