Insulin resistance—when your body stops responding to insulin effectively—affects nearly 40% of Americans ages 18 to 44, putting them at risk for a host of health problems including diabetes, heart disease and even mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Untold millions more show evidence of insulin resistance, a precursor to those conditions.
How can the process be interrupted to enhance the chances for a long, healthy life? It begins with stopping insulin resistance in its tracks.
Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that shuttles glucose, a type of sugar, from the blood into the cells where it can be used for energy or stored for later use.
“If you think of a cell like a house, insulin knocks at the door to let sugar into the cell,” said Ruchi Mathur, MD, an endocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai.
Insulin resistance happens when your cells don’t respond to the knock at the door and the pancreas continues churning out insulin to move the process along. Over time, the pancreas struggles to keep up and glucose builds up in the blood, and that can lead to prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes.
Anyone can develop insulin resistance, but certain factors increase your risk, such as:
Certain medications, including glucocorticoids, and certain antipsychotics and HIV medications increase the odds of developing insulin resistance. Health conditions, too, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, polycystic ovarian syndrome and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are associated with insulin resistance.
Even if the genetic chips and other factors are stacked against you, there are plenty of steps you can take.
Many people with insulin resistance don’t notice symptoms until years later. However, common signs include:
Unlike prediabetes and diabetes, which have clear-cut criteria (a fasting blood glucose level between 100 to 125 mg/dL, and a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dL or higher, respectively), insulin resistance is more difficult to detect.
“With insulin resistance, your blood glucose levels might be normal, but your insulin levels spike so glucose can be metabolized properly,” said Mathur.
In the absence of obvious symptoms, doctors use a suite of tests to assess how your body responds to insulin, including fasting glucose levels, hemoglobin A1C and something called a glucose tolerance test where they monitor your body’s response to a sugary drink. “If insulin levels spike super high, it indicates a level of resistance,” Mathur said.
Once insulin resistance sets in, it’s hard to reverse and can lead to long-term complications, including prediabetes and diabetes.
“Being an active participant in your own health and taking proactive steps to control blood sugar levels can help prevent insulin resistance and improve your long-term health and wellbeing,” said Musi.
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