Insulin is a hormone naturally present in your body that helps regulate blood sugar levels in your body. It's made by the pancreas that helps glucose in your blood to move into the cells in your muscle, fat, and liver, where it is used for energy.
Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver do not respond to insulin and can't use glucose from your blood for energy. So to manage this your pancreas makes more insulin to regulate the blood glucose in the body.
What are the symptoms of Insulin resistance?
You can't tell you have insulin resistance by how you feel. You need to get your blood sugar levels checked for you to know if it's increased.
Who is more likely to develop insulin resistance?
In many cases it's genetic but people with unhealthy lifestyles are likely to develop insulin resistance: Some examples are given below:
- Overweight or obesity
- Age 45 or older
- A parent, brother, or sister with diabetes
- Physical inactivity
- Health conditions such as high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels
- A history of gestational diabetes
- A history of heart disease or stroke
- Polycystic ovary syndrome also called PCOS
What are Insulin resistance treatment and prevention?
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can prevent insulin resistance and in case its genetics can be controlled by lifestyle modification. Some treatments are mentioned below:
- Daily exercise is recommended and 30 mins of brisk walking will also do.
- Reducing or avoiding sugar and carbohydrate-rich diet.
- Intermittent fasting and a ketogenic diet have been seen to be helpful in some cases.
- Or otherwise maintaining a healthy balanced diet.
- Berberine supplements are also studied for insulin regulation support and in many cases support the reversal of insulin resistance.