3/4/24, 3:15 PM Insulin Resistance: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is a complex condition in which your body does not respond as it
should to insulin, a hormone your pancreas makes that’s essential for regulating
blood sugar levels. Several genetic and lifestyle factors can contribute to insulin
resistance.

Contents Overview Symptoms and Causes Diagnosis and Tests

Management and Treatment Prevention Outlook / Prognosis Living With

Overview

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3/4/24, 3:15 PM Insulin Resistance: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

What Is Insulin Resistance?

Learn about insulin resistance and what insulin does in your body.

What is insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance, also known as impaired insulin sensitivity, happens when cells in
your muscles, fat and liver don’t respond as they should to insulin, a hormone your
pancreas makes that’s essential for life and regulating blood glucose (sugar) levels.
Insulin resistance can be temporary or chronic and is treatable in some cases.

Under normal circumstances, insulin functions in the following steps:

Your body breaks down the food you eat into glucose (sugar), which is your
body’s main source of energy.

Glucose enters your bloodstream, which signals your pancreas to release

insulin.

Insulin helps glucose in your blood enter your muscle, fat and liver cells so theyAd
can use it for energy or store it for later use.

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3/4/24, 3:15 PM Insulin Resistance: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

When glucose enters your cells and the levels in your bloodstream decrease, it
signals your pancreas to stop producing insulin.

For several reasons, your muscle, fat and liver cells can respond inappropriately to
insulin, which means they can’t efficiently take up glucose from your blood or store
it. This is insulin resistance. As a result, your pancreas makes more insulin to try to
overcome your increasing blood glucose levels. This is called hyperinsulinemia.

As long as your pancreas can make enough insulin to overcome your cells’ weak
response to insulin, your blood sugar levels will stay in a healthy range. If your cells
become too resistant to insulin, it leads to elevated blood glucose levels
(hyperglycemia), which, over time, leads to prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes.

In addition to Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance is associated with several other

conditions, including:

Obesity.

Cardiovascular disease.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Metabolic syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

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