What Causes Insulin Resistance?

Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are caused by a drop in insulin sensitivity blamed on “intramyocellular lipid,” the buildup of fat inside our muscle cells.

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

[BlissThisWay]

I'm type 1 diabetic and follow a HIGH carb // LOW fat VEGAN diet and it's the best thing I've ever done for my health and my life. My blood sugar is absolutely excellent from eating this way: fruits, veggies and starch (potatoes, rice, quinoa, gluten free pasta, legumes, beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, etc)

[billderinbaja]

I have been on Keto + Intermittent Fasting for 3.5 months. My fasting insulin is down 50%, my inflammation is gone, I've lost 45# of fat, my energy levels are thru the roof, my mind is clear of "fog". I'm not qualified to say who is right or wrong about the biochemistry, but my experience is that high-fat + very low-carb diets work amazingly well to lose fat and to increase athletic performance.

[aovint]

I could never say I understand this mechanism...UNTIL NOW...

Thanks for another great video and have a great weekend.

[suxcesss]

Just so you know, this is a very complex issue with diabetes and insulin and blood sugar etc. I am Vegan, but i tried a fully Keto diet for a couple weeks, and at first it made my Diabetes worse, but after a week and combining it with Intermittend Fasting (i only ate once a day), it almost completely stabilized my blood sugar, mainly because i ate extremely to almost no carbs which didn't increase blood sugar, i basically lived off fat and the right amount of protein.

Now i have gone back to plant food vegan diet and if i eat too much or too often or don't make sport the symptoms come right back.

So my problem was that glucose in muscles were saturated and my glucose storage was basically overflowing into my blood, which lead to increased blood sugar and diabetes symptoms (tingling in lower body, especially lower toes > lower feet > lower leg).

The key is basically to make enough sports, so your body and muscles burn their glucose storage away and to simply fast and/or eat less so the glucose storages don't increase and flow into your blood sugar. I don't know exactly what the underlying problem is, but i think it's a mixture of eating to many calories (and it doesn't matter if it's protein or carbs or alcohol) and my body not being able to store more glucose in cells, becuase all cells are saturated with glucose.

No one will read that, but it was good to write it down for myself. Maybe someone learns something from my experience.

[hannahschulte]

I have a question though. What kind of fat causes the insulin resistance? You mentioned specifically that saturated fats contribute. Because I thought that not all fat acts the same. Do all fats cause insulin resistance? Also does fat that is produced by excess carbohydrates cause insulin resistance? Thanks!

[asolano]

The original version of this video has the same name and was published on this channel 3 years ago. Its great that it has been remade given the larger subscriber base. This message is so important and has many implications beyond IR.

[star_blazer]

Thank you, Dr. Greger! The beautifully rendered graphics really help to visualize what's happening inside the body.

[AwesomenessManifested]

There are actually - at last count - 47 different things that can go wrong in our physiology to cause blood glucose levels to rise. For example, low chromium levels means Glucose Transfer Factor becomes dysfunctional.

[celinak]

Just because of the graphics, I really liked this one :)

[veg]

You updated the old video. Nice. I will use this video in my Diabetes video instead of the old one. Just in time ^^

[Jamesnebula]

I don't understand, an adult needs 2000-2500 calories per day, low fat would mean eating large carb meals. Which would be bad for diabetics or those with insulin resistance.

[betsycosmos]

I really like the new type of graphic in this...helps make the science more easily understood for us who didn't pay attention in high school science class :-)

[philipgerlach]

More of these vids!! So well explained👌

[lupuscorvus]

K. Cool. Now explain all of the cases of people on a Ketogenic diet reversing their instance of type-2 diabetes with a high-fat/low-carb diet.

If you can explain that I'll be willing to listen. I've been through your website a bit and it definitely seems biased towards a very vegetarian/vegan way of thinking. This isn't an attack or a point of contention, I'm simply seeing information that contradicts much of the research on peer-reviewed studies that I've done so I'm curious as to what explanation you would have for that.

[catecurl]

Appreciate the info graphic doc ☺ it facilitates learning about cellular processes and how they pertain to our bodies. Thankyou x

[rashpalsingh]

Hi doc; I watched few videos on insulin resistance. can you or any of your reader help me understand insulin resistance. Since the cells are insulin resistance to the insulin that is produced by the body, Insulin can't get into the cell doors because of insulin resistance to absorb for energy, how does taking insulin pills or injections open the cells doors to absorb the energy?

[F]

Another excellent video. Thanks mr. Grigor!

[Elinious]

Wow, I finally get it now! loved the graphics in this one.

[walterbyrd]

Fantastic animation. No other source of vegan news comes close to this channel.

[HolisticHealthatHome]

The animation really helped explain this topic. Great job, Dr. Greger and team!