1.What is Insulin ?
Insulin is a hormone released by pancreas which helps with the movement of glucose ( blood sugar) into our cell. As the food we ate got broken down into blood sugar, the rise in blood sugar level triggers the the release of insulin into blood stream. Insulin then helps the blood sugar to enter the body’s cell (eg. muscles and liver) so that it can be used for energy when needed.
When blood sugar enters cell, the blood stream sugar level will decrease and so will be the released of insulin from pancreas. This mechanism keeps our blood glucose level in healthy range at all time.
2. What is Insulin Resistance
Insulin Resistance is when the pathway of getting blood sugar into the cell is impaired, the cells in our muscles, fat and liver are not as responsive to insulin as how they used to be.
In other words, the usual amount of insulin required to get a certain amount of glucose into cell is no longer enough. When Insulin Resistance happens, more amount of insulin is required to get the same amount of glucose into cell and also to maintain the blood glucose level within healthy range.
3. Insulin Resistance Vs Pre-diabetes ?
Insulin resistance is not a state of pre-diabetes but it is a path leading to that. The key difference is that a person with Insulin Resistance will still be able to maintain a healthy blood glucose range but in pre-diabetes, the blood glucose level is higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.
4. Insulin resistance & cardiovascular risk
A research journal published in year 2019 concluded that insulin resistance is a cardiovascular risk factor in humans. The research concluded that enhancement of insulin sensitivity rather than plasma glucose level has a major role in reduction of risk in cardiovascular event.
According to Centers for disease Control and Prevention (CDC), type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90-95% of diabetes. Recent statistic has shown that 1 out of 3 adults has pre-diabetes. Of this group, 9 out of 10 do not know that they have it.
It takes about 10-15 years of insulin resistance and pre-diabetes to develop into type 2 diabetes. While obesity and family history of type 2 diabetes are known risk factors, research has shown that insulin resistance can happen to the young and lean while remained asymptomatic for decades. To put it simply, if you are now 40 years old with Type 2 diabetes, your road to this path could have already started when you were in your mid-twenties.
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