What is the relationship between insulin resistance and diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes is the type of diabetes that occurs later in life. Insulin resistance precedes the development of type 2 diabetes, sometimes by years. In individuals who will ultimately develop type 2 diabetes, it is believed that blood glucose and insulin levels are normal for many years; then at some point in time, insulin resistance develops. At this point, there is often an association of high insulin levels, central obesity, cholesterol abnormalities, and /or high blood pressure (hypertension). When this constellation of disease processes occur, it is know as the metabolic syndrome. One of the actions of insulin is to cause the cells of the body, particularly the muscle and fat cells, to remove and use glucose from the blood. This is one way in which insulin controls the level of glucose in blood. Insulin has this effect on the cells by binding to insulin receptors on the surface of the cells. You can think of it as insulin “knocking” on the doors of muscle and fat cells. The cell
