The Insulin Resistance to Type 2 Diabetes Cycle
Understanding how insulin resistance creates and perpetuates Type 2 Diabetes
How the Cycle Works
1. Insulin Resistance Elevates Blood Glucose: When cells become resistant to insulin, the body produces more insulin to compensate. Initially this works, but over time even massive insulin levels can't force glucose into resistant cells. Blood glucose begins to rise.
2. High Glucose Exhausts Beta Cells: Years of overproduction stress the pancreas's insulin-producing beta cells. Chronic high glucose is toxic to these cells (glucotoxicity), causing them to fail and die. Eventually, insulin production plummets.
3. Beta Cell Failure Triggers Diagnosis: When the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to overcome resistance, blood glucose rises to diabetic levels and Type 2 Diabetes is diagnosed.
4. Medication Can Worsen the Underlying Problem: Conventional treatment often adds insulin or insulin-stimulating drugs. Without addressing insulin resistance at its root, this creates even higher insulin levels, further worsening cellular resistance and perpetuating the cycle.
⚠ The Medication Trap
Some Type 2 Diabetes medications (particularly insulin therapy and sulfonylureas) can actually worsen insulin resistance, strengthening the very cycle they're trying to control. Whilst they may lower blood glucose temporarily, they don't address the root cause and can make the underlying metabolic problem worse over time.
This is why treating Type 2 Diabetes without addressing insulin resistance often requires increasing doses or additional medications—you're fighting against the cycle rather than breaking it.
✓ Breaking the Cycle
The key to lasting remission is addressing insulin resistance at its source:
- Heal the gut: Repair intestinal permeability that drives inflammation and insulin resistance
- Restore insulin sensitivity: Through low-carbohydrate diet and intermittent fasting
- Reduce inflammation: With organic foods and gut-healing protocols
- Support metabolic health: Through a diet to suit your Ayurvedic mind-body type and reduce stress
When you break the cycle at its root cause, blood glucose naturally normalises as insulin sensitivity improves, inflammation subsides, and pancreatic function recovers.
Why Early Detection Matters
Insulin resistance typically develops 10-20 years before Type 2 Diabetes appears. This means you have a critical window to prevent diabetes by detecting and reversing insulin resistance early.
Standard blood tests (fasting glucose and HbA1c) often miss insulin resistance in its early stages. HOMA-IR testing measures insulin resistance directly, allowing intervention before Type 2 Diabetes develops.
Want to explore the research further? Insulin resistance is linked to eight major chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, and Alzheimer's, beyond hypertension. View the comprehensive evidence base →
The Evidence: How Common T2DM Medications Can Worsen Insulin Resistance
Three Key Studies from PubMed
1. High-Dose Exogenous Insulin (Injections)
While insulin is essential for glucose control, chronic over-exposure can trigger a cycle of worsening resistance through receptor downregulation and weight gain.
Study Title: Insulin Resistance in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: Pathophysiological and Therapeutic Relevance
Published/Updated: June 2024 (Comprehensive Review)
Key Finding: Chronic hyperinsulinemia (high insulin levels) is a primary driver of insulin resistance. Injected insulin can "downregulate" the body's own insulin receptors, requiring ever-increasing doses to achieve the same effect.
PubMed URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38346187/
2. Statins (Often co-prescribed with T2DM meds)
Statins are standard care for heart health in T2DM, but they have a known "diabetogenic" effect that can worsen glucose management.
Study Title: Statins Are Associated With Increased Insulin Resistance and Secretion
Completion/Issue Date: November 2021
Key Finding: Using gold-standard testing (the insulin suppression test), this study found that 10 weeks of high-dose Atorvastatin increased insulin resistance by 8% by disrupting the glucose transport pathway (GLUT4).
PubMed URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34433298/
3. Sulfonylureas (e.g., Gliclazide, Glipizide)
These drugs force the pancreas to pump out more insulin. While effective initially, they often lead to "secondary failure" as they increase the body's total insulin load.
Study Title: Sulfonylureas and Their Use in Clinical Practice
Updated Date: 2023 (Review of clinical outcomes)
Key Finding: Unlike Metformin, these drugs provide no "sensitising" effect. By artificially maintaining high insulin levels and promoting weight gain, they can indirectly worsen peripheral insulin resistance over long-term use.
PubMed URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26315243/
Get Tested: Prove the Root Cause
The HOMA-IR test is the gold standard for detecting insulin resistance.
Unlike standard blood tests (fasting glucose and HbA1c) that only detect problems after years of damage, HOMA-IR testing measures insulin resistance directly—often 10-20 years before Type 2 Diabetes develops.
Why test?
* Detects the root cause whilst it's still reversible
* Provides a baseline to track your progress
* Proves whether your diabetes stems from insulin resistance
* Enables targeted intervention before complications arise
Book your HOMA-IR test here: £149 via Vitall [link to https://forradianthealth.com/homa-ir-testing-by-post/]
Or book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss whether testing is right for you [link to consultation page]
Why Ayurvedic Practitioners Cannot Detect Insulin Resistance
Ayurvedic pulse diagnosis (Nadi Pariksha) is a sophisticated traditional diagnostic method that assesses dosha imbalances, digestive fire (Agni), and constitutional patterns. However, pulse diagnosis cannot detect insulin resistance.
Here's why:
Pulse diagnosis reads the qualities of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha through the radial artery, assessing patterns of imbalance, tissue states, and metabolic tendencies. Whilst it can identify digestive weakness, inflammatory patterns, and metabolic dysfunction at the dosha level, it cannot measure the specific biochemical markers that define insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance is a molecular phenomenon requiring laboratory measurement of:
* Fasting insulin levels (measured in µIU/mL)
* Fasting glucose levels (measured in mmol/L)
* The mathematical relationship between them (HOMA-IR calculation)
Even the most skilled Ayurvedic practitioner reading the pulse cannot detect elevated insulin levels circulating in the bloodstream. The pulse may reveal imbalances associated with poor metabolism (weak Agni), accumulation of toxins (Ama), or Kapha-related sluggishness—all of which can correlate with insulin resistance—but it cannot diagnose insulin resistance itself.
This is why HOMA-IR testing is essential: It provides the objective, quantifiable data needed to confirm insulin resistance and track its reversal. Think of it as the difference between sensing that "something feels off" versus having a precise diagnostic measurement.
The integrative approach combines the best of both worlds:
* HOMA-IR testing to detect and measure insulin resistance
* Ayurvedic constitutional assessment to personalise the dietary and lifestyle interventions
* Evidence-based protocols (GAPS, intermittent fasting, organic food) to reverse the condition
* Periodic HOMA-IR retesting to prove remission
This is why our Integrative Remission Programmes begin with HOMA-IR testing—we need to know the starting point, prove the root cause, and track your progress towards complete metabolic restoration.
You can book HOMA-IR test here. This leads to a test kit coming to your home and someone arranging to come round and take the two blood samples, one for fasting glucose and one for fasting insulin. Or book a consultation for free to assess the probability of you having insulin resistance, here.