Insulin Issues: Part 1 (Introduction)

As an individual with personal health and fitness goals, insulin sensitivity is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Decreased insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance is associated with the signs and symptoms of metabolic syndrome including; increased visceral obesity (fat surrounding the organs), hypertension, decreased HDL cholesterol and elevated TAG (Anderson, 2008).

Considering insulin resistance is a cause of pre-diabetes,which then places the individual at heightened risk for developing Type II diabetes, the management of insulin should be a consideration of every nutritional plan. It is estimated that 1 in 4 people (without diabetes) have a genetic predisposition for insulin resistance. However, that doesn't mean that those individuals (or indeed any of us) should be resigned to our fates. Whether or not the insulin resistance manifests depends to a great extent on individual eating and exercise habits. A lack of physical activity and poor nutritional choices leading to increased body-fat are common triggers for the development of insulin resistance. 

Insulin Simplified:

Insulin is basically a 'storage' hormone. After you eat, your body converts the ingested carbohydrates into glucose, which circulates the bloodstream being used by the cells in your body as required. Insulin's function is to store unused glucose as glycogen in the liver. If you think of your body as a gas tank, that tank is only able to hold a certain amount of glycogen before it starts to overflow. When this happens the excess glucose is taken up by insulin and stored as body-fat. Insulin sensitivity has to do with how well your cells respond to insulin. Those with high insulin sensitivity require little insulin in the blood to store carbohydrates. People who are insulin resistant need to secrete more of the hormone to shuttle the same amount of carbs around the body. By the same token, when insulin is kept low enough, fatty acids can be released making fat loss possible. When insulin gets too high, the process comes to a halt. Thus, when insulin resistant individuals eat carbohydrates, it causes a larger release of insulin and inhibits the release of fatty acids. Basically -

 

Higher insulin levels = more fat storage

  

Reference:

Anderson, R.A (2008). Chromium and polyphenols from cinnamon improve insulin sensitivity. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 67, 48-53.