Insulin Resistance – Source of Most Chronic Disease

One of the significant threats to global health in the 21st century is insulin resistance, which is the key factor in the development of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, neurogenerative disease, and obesity-associated cancers. Understanding the molecular basis for insulin resistance leads to specific therapy that helps prevent this common disorder, and we now have a medicine that cleans up the mess in the vascular system after years and even decades of our bodies’ being under the sway of insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance (IR) is associated with an impaired biological response to insulin stimulation of key target tissues, particularly liver, muscle, and adipose tissue. IR impacts glucose utilization, resulting in a compensatory increase in beta-cell insulin production and hyperinsulinemia.

The hormone insulin, produced by the pancreas, regulates blood glucose, or sugar from our food, by allowing it to enter the body’s cells, which are used for energy. Insulin resistance—found in lean and overweight individuals—occurs when the body’s cells don’t effectively respond to insulin and take in glucose, leading to high blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance (IR) is the subnormal response to insulin action on target tissues. Studies suggest that IR increases the risk of hypertension.

Dr. Benjamin Bikman says, “We know that insulin resistance is at the core of most chronic diseases that are killing us. Insulin is a hormone that literally affects every cell of the body. But if those cells become insulin-resistant, you start to spread disease. 88 % of adults in the United States have some insulin resistance.” He also says, “Stress hormones will create insulin resistance pretty quickly. Sleep disturbances as well, and, of course, inflammation will cause insulin resistance. Few understand that high levels of insulin will also cause insulin resistance.”

Low serum and intracellular magnesium concentrations are associated with insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, and decreased insulin secretion. Magnesium improves insulin sensitivity, thus lowering insulin resistance. Magnesium and insulin need each other.

What causes high insulin levels that will create insulin resistance? Stress, insomnia, and inflammation can be fast causes of insulin resistance and can often be resolved quickly. But the slow, insidious cause is overeating, especially if on a high-carbohydrate diet, which most people are. In conjunction with eating too many times a day, this does not allow insulin levels to drop. The cells get tired of all the insulin and start resisting. Eating too much and too frequently is deadly in the end. With so many overweight and obese people, we can see why health is in the trash for so many Americans.

Dr. Luc Tappy says, “The equivalent of the fructose in 8-10 cans of
Coke or Pepsi a day—is a pretty high dose, leaving people to become
insulin-resistant, and triglyceride increases in just a few days.”

The term insulin resistance encompasses a broad continuum, ranging from individuals who maintain normal glucose homeostasis due to increased endogenous insulin production and do not yet have diabetes to individuals with diabetes who require exogenous insulin to maintain glucose homeostasis. Insulin, especially at high concentrations, can accelerate the atherosclerotic process by multiple mechanisms, including increased LDL synthesis/secretion, vascular smooth muscle cell growth and proliferation, activation of genes involved in inflammation, increased collagen synthesis, and enhanced LDL cholesterol transport into arterial smooth muscle cells.