Low levels of insulin can indicate pancreatic islet failure, but some patients do not understand high insulin levels correctly and think it is a good thing. In fact, instead of lowering blood sugar, high levels of insulin can harm the “innocent” – the heart and the vascular system. In healthy or pre-diabetic people, hyperinsulinemia can lead to diabetes, and in diabetic people, hyperinsulinemia results in microvascular disease, such as problems with the fundus and kidneys. Hyperinsulinemia does not occur because the pancreatic islet cells are working “aggressively”, but because the surrounding tissues are insensitive to insulin. In order to maintain normal blood glucose levels, the pancreatic islet cells work “hard” to secrete insulin, which results in high insulin levels in the plasma, and large amounts of insulin cause fat cells to proliferate. Cardiovascular risks of hyperinsulinemia Insensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin reduces the effect of insulin in muscle and inhibits lipolysis in adipose tissue. Insulin resistance in adipose tissue leads to increased blood free fatty acid and triglyceride concentrations. High triglycerides and LDL increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. LDL can penetrate the lining of coronary arteries and other arteries, forming atherosclerotic plaques that block blood vessels. Heart and cerebrovascular disease occurs earlier in diabetics with combined dyslipidemia, especially in women. In women, estrogen protects the heart and blood vessels, and diabetes removes the protective effect of estrogen. Hyperinsulinemia also damages the endothelial cells of blood vessels, causing platelet aggregation and making the blood prone to clotting. Insulin likewise activates the sympathetic nervous system in insulin-resistant patients, causing vasospasm and increased resistance, contributing to the development of essential hypertension. At the same time, the heart can also be affected, resulting in abnormal ventricular structure, diminished cardiac function and even failure. The relationship between hyperinsulinemia and heart disease was noted by the medical community as early as 1988, when this type of metabolic abnormality was referred to as the X syndrome. By the 2lth century, syndrome X was officially renamed metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome includes dysglycemia, hypertension, obesity or central obesity, and dyslipidemia. Other Risks of Hyperinsulinemia There is substantial evidence that many patients with fatty liver disease are also insulin resistant and hyperinsulinemic, a phenomenon that is gaining attention, and it appears that patients with fatty liver disease are also diabetic reservists. Because, the insulin resistance of muscle and fat tissue will lead to the increase of hepatic triglyceride synthesis, that is to say, make the liver fat content increase, and the serious fatty liver will cause cirrhosis of the liver, which will jeopardize the patient’s life. Research results of foreign scholars show that hyperinsulinemia may be related to breast cancer. Pre- and postmenopausal women with breast cancer have elevated plasma C-peptide or insulin concentrations, suggesting that fasting insulin concentrations have a role in estimating prognosis for women with early breast cancer. The increased incidence of breast cancer is strongly associated with hypertriglyceridemia, obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, which also indirectly suggests a relationship between high insulin levels and breast cancer. These are the consequences of hyperinsulinemia. This inevitably makes patients who need insulin injections worry about whether insulin could be a trigger for cardiovascular disease and obesity. This concern is not unwarranted. It is common for patients to gain weight after insulin injections, but insulin resistance can be avoided with proper dosage, dietary control and exercise, where increasing the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin is the key to solving the problem. The approach is dietary control to reduce fat and physical exercise to build muscle. The available drugs are insulin sensitizers such as Tylenol and Ventia. The application of insulin sensitizers in the stage of abnormal glucose regulation can significantly reduce the onset of diabetes and is also able to be applied as hypoglycemic agents with sustained and reliable results. Metformin is the classic hypoglycemic agent that can also be used in combination with increased insulin sensitivity. Many obese patients have hyperinsulinemia, but since the physical exam is only a blood glucose check, it doesn’t show up. And hyperinsulinemia does not harm other body organs except for increasing the burden on the pancreas. So it’s easy to overlook it, and when hyperinsulinemia turns into diabetes, it’s too late. Why don’t you take the initiative to drop your weight and nip chronic diseases in the bud?