What is the story about insulin?

Kavitha Reddy Ph.D.

sreyanutrition@gmail.com

Hormones perform the role of messengers in our body. If one part of the body wants to
send a signal to another part it is either by the way of nerve impulses or by hormones.
Insulin is a hormone and it is responsible for how macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein
and fat) the energy releasing nutrients are used in the body.

After a meal how the calories obtained are utilized, whether they are used up or stored in
the body is up to insulin. That is the reason why so much attention is being showered on
insulin.

What is Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone which is protein in nature and is released by pancreas. When we have a
meal, glucose levels in our blood gets elevated and that’s the signal for our pancreas to
release insulin.

Amino acids, breakdown products of protein from digestive system enter the blood stream
too. They also result in pancreas releasing insulin but the response is nowhere near the way
pancreas reacts to glucose (1).

What does insulin do?

Insulin does several things at a time once released by the pancreas. The level of glucose in
blood is regulated quite firmly by insulin and it does so by multi-pronged mechanism.

• Makes the cells in muscle and fat tissue to take up glucose

• Makes liver take up glucose and synthesize glycogen which is stored in the liver
• Decreases release of fat from fat cells
• Increases net protein production

Insulin while circulating in the blood stimulates the receptors in muscle and fat cells and
encourages the movement of glucose into these cells. Insulin aids in increasing the number
of glucose transport proteins to facilitate the movement of glucose in the cells.

The number of these cells in our body is significantly high therefore the glucose levels go
down in the blood in a short time. And as the glucose levels in the blood drop so does the
level of insulin secreted by the pancreas.

Insulin resistance
Insulin resistance is defined as a reduced responsiveness of a target cell or a whole organism
to the insulin concentration to which it is exposed (2).

That means when after a meal glucose levels are increased in the blood and insulin is
released by the pancreas the muscle or fat cells refuse to get stimulated by insulin or
disregard the signal sent by insulin to take up glucose. And the pancreas releases even more
insulin because of the increased glucose levels leading to hyperinsulinemia.

The cells show reduced sensitivity to insulin and it is closely related to the development of
type 2 diabetes which is inevitable. But there are other implications of insulin resistance
which are of great interest to other specialists as it is also linked to other disorders such as

• Cardiovascular risk
• Obesity
• Hypertension
• And Dyslipidemia (3).

Hyperinsulinemia
Let us try and understand what this term hyperinsulinemia means. After a meal the glucose
levels in blood increase as the carbohydrate consumed is broken down to glucose. This is
the cue for pancreas to release insulin to regulate the blood glucose levels, that is send the
glucose to where it is needed or where it can be put to use or stored.

If the cells do their work normally there is no issue. The problem arises when the cells
ignore signals sent by insulin. Pancreas seeing that the glucose levels are still high in blood
releases more insulin into the blood. But this does not work either because the cells are
resisting any instructions by insulin. The outcome is high levels of insulin in blood and the
condition is called hyperinsulinemia. The underlying cause of hyperinsulinemia is insulin
resistance by the cells in tissues.

References
1. Wildman, R. (2009) The Nutritionist- Food, Nutrition and Optimal Health, Nutrition,
Second Edition. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. New York and London.

2. Shanik, M.H., Xu, Y., Škrha, J., Dankner, R., Zick, Y. and Roth, J. (2008) Insulin
Resistance and Hyperinsulinemia, Diabetes Care. Vol. 31 (2).
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/31/Supplement_2/S262.long

3. Sinaiko, A. R. and Caprio, S. (2012) Insulin resistance, The Journal of pediatrics.

Vol. 161 (1).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3357457/