The American Diabetes Association (ADA) suggests that adults begin regular diabetes screenings at age 45. As a result, most people over the age of 45 have sufficient knowledge of their fasting blood sugar level; they know whether their doctor has told them it’s normal, low, high, or nearing the Pre-Diabetic or even the Diabetic range.
Many people can even recount their Hemoglobin A1C level, which is a marker of blood sugar over the past 3 months. Blood sugar testing is fast, it’s simple and it’s cheap – a few of the reasons why it has become the standard test ordered by doctors for anyone concerned with Diabetes, weight loss, or weight gain.
The question is… is an awareness of blood sugar levels enough information to help patients avoid Type II Diabetes?
Fasting blood sugar and Hemoglobin A1C are important markers, and everyone should know their levels and have an understanding of what they mean. However, blood sugar does not tell the whole story!
What are we missing?
Unfortunately, very few people can say they have any clue what their insulin level is. Insulin levels are very rarely if ever, checked by most conventional doctors. You might assume that insulin levels must not be important if doctors are not testing them.
However, that is simply NOT the case. Insulin is a very powerful and ubiquitous hormone in your body, and knowing, at the very least, your fasting insulin level, is extremely important.
It can offer great insight into overall health and can give patients the motivation they need to work on related lifestyle factors early on.
Why it’s important to know your insulin level
Just because blood sugar is within normal range, does NOT mean insulin is also within normal range. This was demonstrated in a large group study published by the ADA in 2009, in which the results showed that “impairment of peripheral insulin sensitivity started at relatively low PG (plasma glucose) levels within the normoglycemic range.”
Insulin and blood sugar work in close concert with one another, and insulin is very good at compensating in order to keep blood glucose levels normal. In certain people, insulin levels can increase for years before any noticeable rise in blood sugar occurs.
Also read: What Happens to Your Body When You Consume Too Much Sugar?
The effects of insulin
A rise in insulin would be okay if high blood sugar was the one and only factor to worry about in this duo. However, neither chronically elevated blood sugar nor chronically elevated insulin is desirable.
A chronically high insulin level is often referred to as hyperinsulinemia, and it is a problem in itself for many reasons including, but not limited to, the following:
- Insulin is the body’s main fat storage hormone and is largely responsible for weight gain. Elevated insulin levels can cause weight gain EVEN when blood sugar levels are normal.
- Chronically elevated insulin levels speed up the aging process.
- Chronically elevated insulin levels contribute to inflammation.
- Chronically elevated insulin levels are a major contributor to nearly every chronic disease including obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, dementia, hypertension, and even PCOS.
- Chronically elevated insulin is the leading cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Also read: 5 Ways To Naturally Reverse Insulin Resistance
Taking your health into your own hands
Having knowledge of insulin levels allows individuals to take their health into their own hands and begin implementing lifestyle measures to improve both blood sugar and insulin levels PRIOR to requiring medication to control it.
However, if individuals have reportedly normal blood sugar levels, but are unaware of possible elevated insulin levels, they may mistakenly think that their diet, exercise, and other lifestyle routines are adequate when in fact they may be contributing to worsening insulin levels, and thus worsening overall health.
Advocate for yourself
Ask your doctor to have your fasting insulin tested, or you can purchase a lab order online from various direct purchase lab companies to see if imbalanced insulin could be an underlying factor contributing to your symptoms and/or weight gain.
That way, you have the power (and the motivation!) to begin addressing it with lifestyle-related practices, today!
References:
Alena Stančáková, Martin Javorský, Teemu Kuulasmaa, Steven M. Haffner, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso; Changes in Insulin Sensitivity and Insulin Release in Relation to Glycemia and Glucose Tolerance in 6,414 Finnish Men. Diabetes 1 May 2009; 58 (5): 1212–1221. https://doi.org/10.2337/db08-1607
Hyman, M. (2012). How to work with your doctor to get what you need – Mark Hyman. https://drhyman.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://drhyman.com/downloads/HowToGetWhatYouNeed.pdf
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Thea Banjac is an integrative health coach and the owner of Veza Wellness. She helps determined women who are dealing with frustrating auto-immune conditions to lose weight, rebalance their bodies, and take back control of their health so they can finally live without their debilitating symptoms. She does this by combining functional medicine lab testing with personalized and proven wellness protocols.
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