Insulin is the hormone secreted by the beta cells in the pancreas. It helps sugar to cross the cell barrier and enter the cell to provide energy and allow the cells to do their work, such as muscle cells to move the skeleton or the pituitary gland to secrete other hormones. The body has been designed to function using a specific level of insulin. When that insulin level rises, consequences develop.
Insulin Resistance
Hyperinsulinemia is the medical term used to describe higher than normal levels of insulin in the blood stream. This is a condition that is not diabetes but can be a precursor to type-2 diabetes. Increased amounts of insulin in the blood stream are often an indication that there is a resistance at the cellular level to the use of insulin. According to Mayo Clinic, when the cells are resistant to the insulin in the body, the pancreas begins to secrete more insulin in an effort to move sugar from the blood stream into the cells. As the insulin resistance grows, the pancreas is no longer able to keep up with the requirements and the blood sugar rises, which is the beginning of type-2 diabetes.
Metabolic Syndrome
Another consequence of increased amounts of insulin in the blood stream is a combination of symptoms called metabolic syndrome. According to the American Heart Association, metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of risk factors that includes insulin resistance, abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure and increased levels that indicate a predisposition to high cholesterol, increased risk of blood clotting and increased inflammation in the body. If you have metabolic syndrome, you have a higher risk of coronary heart disease and type-2 diabetes.
Prostate Cancer
In a study published in September 2009 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, lead researcher Demetrius Albanes from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda MD found that elevated insulin levels were also linked with an increased risk of prostate cancer. The researchers measured the relationship of serum insulin and glucose to the development of prostate cancer and found a strong association between leaner men who were not physically active and who had high insulin levels with the development of prostate cancer.
Breast Cancer
Breast cancer has been the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. In January 2009, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine published "High Insulin Levels Raise Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women" linking higher levels of insulin in the body with an increased risk of breast cancer. Although a link between obesity and breast cancer had been determined, scientists had believed that the causative factor was the increased levels of estrogen in obese women. This research study is the first to identify the role of increased amount of insulin, also commonly found in obese women, to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells in tissue cultures while controlling for estrogen. This means that women who are obese could be at higher risk, not only because of the increased estrogen their bodies produce but also because of the increased amount of insulin secreted.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Is Hyperinsulinemia a Form of Diabetes?; Maria Collazo-Clavell, MD
- American Heart Association: Metabolic Syndrome
- Journal of the National Cancer Institute; "Serum Insulin, Glucose, Indices of Insulin Resistance, and Risk of Prostate Cancer"; Demetrius Albanes, September 2009
- Science Daily; "High Insulin Levels Raise Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women"; Albert Einstein College of Medicine; January 2009
