What is Insulin Resistance?Insulin Resistance, also known as Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X, is a condition in which chronically high levels of insulin circulating in the blood have caused the body’s mechanism for regulating insulin and blood glucose (sugar) to fail. Insulin, the hormone which helps the body store blood sugar (glucose) is secreted by the body when we eat carbohydrates or excess protein. When we eat a meal that contains carbohydrate along with protein and fat, our body breaks down the carbs into glucose and the protein into amino acids. It also breaks down any fats consumed into smaller chains of fatty acids. The fatty acids are stored in the fat cells, and the body will wait to burn these later, at a time when no glucose is available to burn and insulin levels return to normal. If a person eats a high carbohydrate diet over a long period of time (as Americans have been doing since the USDA published the Food Pyramid), high levels of blood glucose and blood insulin become chronic and the blood sugar and insulin levels never return to normal. Over time, the cells of the body become resistant or "numb" to the high amount of insulin which is always circulating. More and more insulin is required to push blood glucose into the cells, and more and more fat gets permanently locked into the fat cells. As the condition of resistance progresses, the pancreas, which secretes insulin, becomes damaged and is unable to produce enough insulin to counteract the high level of blood sugar. The blood sugar levels climb very high, and the person is diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. As Americans have embraced the low fat, high carb diet, chronically high insulin levels have become more common, and today, diagnoses of insulin resistance and diabetes are skyrocketing in this country, and indeed all over the world, as other countries adopt the standard low fat, high carb American diet. Insulin resistance is often associated with other health problems, such as high cholesterol, high blood triglycerides, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. When a person exhibits many of these health problems at the same time, doctors may diagnose the patient with a condition called Metabolic Syndrome. How to Avoid Insulin ResistanceA low carb diet is the best treatment for avoiding and reversing insulin resistance and the pre diabetes symptoms associated with it. For example, look at the results of this study designed to test low carb diets on the factors associated with metabolic syndrome: Eighty three subjects were randomly allocated to one of 3 weight loss diets for 8 weeks and on the same diets in energy balance for 4 weeks. Each diet provided identical amounts of calories but differed in the amount of carbohydrate, fat, protein and saturated fat included. This was expressed in a ratio (Carb:Fat:Protein; %SF). The diets included a:
The results were telling. Those subjects on the VLCARB diet lowered their fasting insulin by 33%, compared to a 19% fall on the HUF diet and no change on VLF. The VLCARB meals also provoked significantly lower glucose and insulin responses at meal end than the VLF and HUF meals. All three diets decreased fasting glucose, blood pressure and CRP, a measure of inflammation. The authors concluded that very low carb diets resulted in similar fat loss to the HUF diets, (which were low in saturated fat), but the VLCARB diets were more effective in improving triglyceride levels, increasing HDL-Cholesterol, and improving fasting and post meal glucose and insulin concentrations. They noted that VLCARB diets may be useful in the short-term management of subjects with insulin resistance and high blood triglycerides. Many other studies have repeated these results, even in people who have developed diabetes from years of chronically elevated insulin levels. A Polish physican named Jan Kwasniewski has used very low carb diets (aka: high fat or ketogenic diets) to effectively treat Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes. Resources for Further Reading
Done with Insulin Resistance, Back to Research on Obesity
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by Gerald Reaven, Terry Kirsten Strom, and Barry Fox
