Last post I discussed Insulin Resistance and its effect on High Blood Pressure (HBP) and end organ damage. I described how lowering Insulin Resistance can help reduce the risk of not only HBP, but also liver, kidney, brain and heart disease.
Today I will briefly discuss how to determine if you have Insulin Resistance via two laboratory tests.
HOMA-IR
This test looks at the relationship between fasting insulin and fasting glucose. A value below 1 is optimal, between 1-2 is OK, and you do not want to be above 2.
Simply put, the test looks to determine how much insulin is needed to move glucose out of the blood into fat cells for storage. If your fat cells have plenty of room for storage, they let the insulin work pretty easily to move the glucose into the cell, so not much insulin is needed. But if you are overweight and your fat cells are fairly filled up, with less room remaining, the cells begin to “resist insulin” to slow further fat storage. You end up needing more insulin to try and push the glucose into the fat cells. I believe this is the fat cells method of protecting itself from being “overstuffed”.
Here is the rub. Since the fat cells are resisting insulin’s effect, glucose remains in your blood a bit longer leading to higher measured glucose levels. If this is a chronic issue, you become Pre-Diabetic and then eventually Diabetic. Even more interesting to me at least is that as this progresses fasting glucose and fasting insulin both rise. When you finally get labelled as a Type 2 Diabetic otherwise known as Adult Onset Diabetes, both your Glucose and Insulin levels are elevated, thus Type 2 Diabetes is a disease of Insulin Resistance.
Traditional Healthcare believes Type 2 Diabetes is a chronic irreversible condition that progresses year to year where you need ever increasing doses of medications to “control” your glucose and thus your Diabetes. I disagree and believe Type 2 Diabetes can be reversed especially if we focus on decreasing Insulin Resistance.
Diabetics age quicker than non-Diabetics mostly due to increased end organ damage resulting from longstanding elevated glucose and insulin levels, i.e. Insulin Resistance. Problem is most, not all, but most Diabetes medications focus on lowering your glucose as opposed to lowering your insulin and thus your Insulin Resistance is not addressed. This is why I see Type 2 Diabetics who focus on medications instead of their Insulin Resistance continue to progress towards end organ damage.
IMW Pearl:
For better short and long term outcomes, if you are a Type 2 Diabetic, address your Insulin Resistance.
Triglyceride to HDL ratio - ( T/H ratio)
I discussed this briefly in a previous post as well.
An optimal Triglyceride to HDL ratio is less than 1. This means you want more HDL than Triglycerides. This Triglyceride to HDL ratio below 1 is a good indicator of optimal Insulin Sensitivity.
A decent Triglyceride to HDL ratio is between 1 - 1.5. This means you want your Triglycerides no more than 50% higher than your HDL.
You do not want a Triglyceride to HDL ratio greater than 1.5. A ratio above 1.5 is a marker of Insulin Resistance and a higher risk of heart and vascular disease.
Triglycerides measured in your blood are most commonly associated with excess dietary carbohydrates, alcohol or sometimes an underactive thyroid. So if your T/H ratio is elevated, perhaps it is time to lower your dietary carbohydrates and alcohol. You should also get your thyroid evaluated.
Psst- A full thyroid evaluation is more than just a TSH blood level. But that can be a post for another day.
So if you have your old lab tests handy, look at your T/H ratio.
You can calculate your HOMA-IR if you have a fasting insulin and fasting glucose from the same lab specimen and put the values into the HOMA-IR calculator. This is what I do when I am reviewing the Institute for Medical Wellness Advanced Wellness Tests (IMW-AWT).
Why do I believe that Diabetes medication alone is not enough?
My belief is that while medications lower the blood glucose number, often the abnormal mechanisms that contribute to the end organ damage still continues along silently. So while on medications you still may be aging your organs just as quickly and not even know it. This is my belief from my 30 years of professional experience even if it may not agree with the mainstream.
So if you have Type 2 Diabetes and are looking for a new approach to treatment that does not solely rely on medications, work with someone who is knowledgeable that can help you lower your Insulin Resistance.
This substack blog appears to be growing fast.
Thank you to all the new subscribers, early readers as well as paid subscribers.
If you like what you are reading and find it helpful and of value, consider upgrading to a paid subscription. It does not pay the rent, but it encourages me to keep writing about common sense health and wellness topics.
If you have any topics you would like me to address, please leave them in the comments section. It’s not a guarantee I’ll write about it, but it is definitely food for thought.
As always, comments and questions are welcomed and encouraged.