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October 1 (UPI) – Medications prescribed for type 2 diabetes may actually increase insulin resistance in the body by increasing production of the hormone to unhealthy levels, causing the disease to worsen, researchers from the UK said Friday. Boston University.
The medical field has long believed that insulin resistance, or increased tolerance to insulin, causes high levels of the hormone in the blood, they said.
As a result, prescription drugs such as metformin and a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones, or TZDs, are often used to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes by increasing the release of insulin into the bloodstream.
However, high levels of insulin in the blood in people with the disease may actually result from overproduction of the hormone by beta cells in the pancreas, they argued in an article published Friday by the journal Diabetes. .
This process, called hyperinsulinemia, can be caused by excess nutrients and environmental toxins, and drugs designed to stimulate insulin production may lead to greater tolerance after long-term use, the researchers said.
“Our article describes a testable model in which chronic excessive nutrient exposure results in beta cell insulin hypersecretion contributing to hyperinsulinemia,” co-author Barbara E. Corkey said in a press release.
“Hyperinsulinemia normally precedes measurable insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. It is considered by many to be a normal response to insulin resistance rather than its potential cause,” said Corkey, professor emeritus at Boston University School of Medicine.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows tissues such as muscle and fat to process sugar, or glucose, in the blood for use as fuel for the body’s energy needs, according to Corkey and colleagues.
It is released from the pancreas into the bloodstream when blood sugar levels rise, perhaps after a meal, to keep them in a normal, healthy range.
People with insulin resistance or altered insulin sensitivity have developed tolerance to the hormone, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Resistance makes insulin less effective, and as a result, it takes more for the body’s fat and muscle cells to process sugar and for the liver to keep storing it, according to the association.
This means that more sugar builds up in the blood, to unhealthy levels in people with type 2 diabetes, causing the pancreas to make even more insulin, he says.
Because of this increased insulin production, which can lead to hyperinsulinemia, many people with type 2 diabetes have high insulin even when their blood sugar levels are normal, Corkey and colleagues said.
Drugs that further increase insulin production only make the problem worse by essentially telling the body that it needs more and more hormone to process sugar, they said.
“The increased release of insulin from the pancreas leads to increased insulin levels in the blood, causing and contributing to insulin resistance,” Corkey said.
“New therapeutic solutions that include lowering insulin levels before the development of type 2 diabetes may be warranted to prevent insulin resistance from developing further into type 2 diabetes,” she said. declared.
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