Metabolic syndrome crosses the line to type 2 diabetes when insulin resistance worsens to the point that the pancreas can no longer increase insulin production to yet higher levels. By then the elevated insulin ‘in the background’ has already been doing damage throughout the body for years. If blood sugar can no longer be controlled with natural agents that re-sensitize insulin receptors and support blood sugar metabolism or other oral anti-diabetic agents, then exogenous (from the outside) insulin is used. But if higher levels of native insulin contribute to a variety of diseases, are higher therapeutic levels a concern? This study published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism investigates just that:

“Aim: To compare population-based rates of all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in newly treated patients with type 2 diabetes according to levels of insulin exposure.”

The authors collected data for 12,272 individuals on cumulative insulin exposure and its correlation with death from cardiovascular diseases and death from any disease. What did the data show?

“The highest mortality rates were in the high exposure group…we observed a graded risk of mortality associated with increasing exposure to insulin… Analyses restricted to CV-related and non-vascular mortality showed virtually identical results.”

Here’s how they summed up their findings:

“We observed a significant and graded association between mortality risk and insulin exposure level in an inception cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes that persisted despite multivariable adjustment.”

Wouldn’t you think this is one reason why other studies have shown that too aggressive pharmaceutical blood sugar control results in worse outcomes? There are a number of evidence-based natural agents that support insulin receptor sensitivity and other functional aspects of type 2 diabetes. The more these can be used to minimize the dependence on increasing insulin the better.