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Insulin is known as the fat storage hormone. It helps dispose blood sugar from the blood circulation into the cells where it can be used as a form of energy.
When we eat foods rich in carbohydrates, this will be broken down into glucose or blood sugar, and will accumulate in our blood stream. If there is an increase level of sugar in our body, it sends a signal to the brain to produce more insulin.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas, specifically the Islets of Langerhans. Pancreas is known to produce hormones like Insulin and Glucagon, both being utilised to control sugar level in the body.
When insulin is produced, it promotes the uptake of glucose into the cells. It serves as the ‘key’ for glucose to be absorbed by muscle, skeletal, liver and fat cells in the body.
What is insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance is the condition when insulin is not doing its job. The cells do not respond well to insulin leading to excessive amount of glucose in the blood stream and increase level of sugar in the blood will trigger more insulin to be produced.
If a person eats food that have high carb and caloric content, the insulin produced will bind to the insulin receptor creating a channel that allows glucose to enter the cell. When we continue to eat excessive food, these fat cells will grow in size.
It get’s to a point that the cell can’t accommodate glucose anymore and it will change it’s insulin receptor so that insulin can’t put more glucose into the cell. The cell now becomes resistant to insulin.
How will you know if you are insulin resistant?
There are tell tale signs that you are suffering from insulin resistance. Signs include the following:
- High blood glucose level
- High triglyceride level
- Hypertension (Blood pressure above 130/80
- Prominent visceral fat (belly fat)
- Onset of Type 2 Diabetes
- Skin tags
Common effects of Insulin Resistance
1 out of 3 people suffer from insulin resistance and most of them are not even aware of it until they enter the pre-diabetes stage. During this stage, when there is over production of insulin, pancreas ability to produce insulin is compromised which can lead to developing of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Cardinal signs of Diabetes, which are also the effects of Insulin Resistance are as follows:
- Tingling sensation in the extremities. Excessive glucose in the body can cause nerve damage. Extremities can have pins and needles effect. This is also known as paraesthesia
- Blotchy and dark patches of skin. This is due to the rapid production of the skin cells and also known as Acanthosis Nigricans
- Peeing a lot. Since kidneys are filtering extra glucose in the blood, it flushes out these glucose and at the same time draws water along with it. This will lead to frequent urination which is also known as polyuria.
- Excessive thirst, also known as polydipsia. Cells become dehydrated over time because glucose is pulling out water from them. This will trigger the thirst centre in the brain and will lead to excessive drinking.
- Hungry after eating. The glucose are not getting into the cells, this will send signals to the brain that cells are being starved and not being nourished. This condition is known as polyphagia
Can insulin resistance cause weight gain?
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We can trace back the source of insulin resistance down to over eating. Excessive intake of food high in carbohydrates will result to increase blood glucose that can lead to insulin resistance.
This will promote storage of fat in the liver and continuously eating carbs will increase the accumulation of fat.
We have tend to believe that gaining weight and accumulating fat causes insulin resistance but there is a new study circulating right now that it is actually the reverse. That Insulin resistance is the cause why people gain weight. It claims that obesity is a metabolic response to insulin resistance.
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