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Insulin Resistance
Are you one of the millions suffering from excess weight or obesity who have failed to reverse the symptoms of these conditions, no matter what you've tried? It may not be due to lack of willpower. Instead, you could be Insulin Resistant, a root cause of excess weight and obesity.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, Stanford University and other research centers have clearly identified the existence and effects of Insulin Resistance, a biochemical condition that causes excess weight and obesity, leading to a variety of conditions, including the cluster of cardiovascular risk factors called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X), reversible Pre-Diabetes and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), a leading cause of female infertility.
Weight gain and obesity substantially increase your chances of causing damage to your cardiovascular system, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Insulin Resistance is an underlying cause of weight gain and obesity and there are many factors that contribute to its presence in the body. In essence, our environment and lifestyles have evolved too rapidly for our bodies to keep pace. We are still genetically "wired" to thrive on the entrenched habits of our ancestors, who consumed different, nutrient-rich foods and a diet low in carbohydrates, as well as sustaining greater levels of movement and exercise. Some people may also have a genetic predisposition to Insulin Resistance, while others develop the condition through high stress and unhealthy lifestyles.
INSULIN RESISTANCE NEGATIVELY AFFECTS GLUCOSE AND INSULIN LEVELS
Over time, the above factors have damaged the complex ability of the body's cells to properly utilize insulin to convert glucose to energy. This process creates Insulin Resistance, which can cause excess weight and obesity in two distinct ways.
First, Insulin Resistance vastly reduces the number of insulin receptor sites or "doorways" on the walls of your cells. The average healthy person has some 20,000 receptor sites per cell, while the average overweight individual can have as few as 5,000.
If you have too few receptor sites, glucose bounces off the cell wall, instead of passing through the insulin "door" to be burned as energy. With the cell "door" almost closed to it, glucose remains in the blood stream, causing elevated levels of blood sugar, which are sent to the liver. Once there, the sugar is converted into fat and stored via the blood stream throughout the body. This process can lead to excess weight gain and obesity.
The second way that Insulin Resistance causes excess weight and obesity is by raising insulin levels in the blood stream. Unhealthy lifestyles and genetic conditions cause the pancreas to overproduce insulin. The cell is, in turn, overwhelmed by this surplus of insulin and protects itself by reducing the number of its insulin receptor sites.
This process leaves too few sites for insulin to carry out its normal function, which is to attach itself to the cell wall and act as "a key in a lock" allowing glucose to pass through the cell wall and be converted into energy. The vastly-reduced number of receptor sites in Insulin Resistant people causes an excess of insulin "rejected" by the cell to free-float in the blood stream, creating conditions that can damage your cardiovascular system, leading to a heart attack or stroke.
SYMPTOMS OF EXCESS WEIGHT AND OBESITY
Excess weight and obesity are characterized by having at least three of the following symptoms:
- Insulin Resistance (when the body can't absorb blood sugar or insulin properly) - elevated fasting insulin
- Abdominal fat - in men this means a 40 inch waist or larger, in women 35 inches or larger
- High blood sugar levels - at least 110 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) after fasting
- High triglycerides - at least 150 mg/dL in the blood stream
- Low HDL (the "good" cholesterol) - less than 40 mg/dL
- Pro-thrombotic state (e.g. high fibrinogen or plasminogen activator inhibitor in the blood)
- Blood pressure of 130/85 mmHg or higher
The underlying causes of excess weight and obesity are Insulin Resistance, poor diet, physical inactivity and genetic factors.
Researchers have found a connection between excess weight and obesity and other conditions such as Metabolic Syndrome, PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and reversible Pre-Diabetes, which, if left unchecked, can lead to irreversible Type 2 Diabetes.
Studies have shown, for example, an increased link between Metabolic Syndrome and atherosclerosis, which occurs when fatty deposits called plaque cling to the interior walls of the arteries, leading to blockages that can cause heart attacks or stroke. Individuals with Metabolic Syndrome are also more prone to developing Type 2 Diabetes, as well as PCOS in women and prostate cancer in men.
All these findings substantially raise the bar on the seriousness of excess weight and obesity, making it even more important that doctors instruct their patients about one of the underlying causes - Insulin Resistance.
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