Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Boston -- A number of studies have shown that excess insulin circulating in the bloodstream is a major independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, a new study from Joslin Diabetes Center finds that this condition, called hyperinsulinemia, is itself not a cause of atherosclerosis.
In humans, insulin resistance, a condition in which insulin becomes less effective at lowering blood sugar levels, coexists with hyperinsulinemia. Both are associated with atherosclerosis, the buildup of cholesterol in blood vessels that causes coronary artery disease, heart attack, and stroke. In this condition, vascular cells could become dysfunctional because of hyperinsulinemia or because vascular cells themselves are insulin resistant, which is caused by increased insulin production from pancreatic beta cells as a compensatory mechanism to overcome insulin resistance.
Scientists have known for some time that insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia cause increased lipids in the circulation, which indirectly leads to atherosclerosis. However, the Joslin study, published in the May issue of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, shows that, without other factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, hyperinsulinemia alone does not cause atherosclerosis.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/jdc-jsf032712.php
In humans, insulin resistance, a condition in which insulin becomes less effective at lowering blood sugar levels, coexists with hyperinsulinemia. Both are associated with atherosclerosis, the buildup of cholesterol in blood vessels that causes coronary artery disease, heart attack, and stroke. In this condition, vascular cells could become dysfunctional because of hyperinsulinemia or because vascular cells themselves are insulin resistant, which is caused by increased insulin production from pancreatic beta cells as a compensatory mechanism to overcome insulin resistance.
Scientists have known for some time that insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia cause increased lipids in the circulation, which indirectly leads to atherosclerosis. However, the Joslin study, published in the May issue of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, shows that, without other factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, hyperinsulinemia alone does not cause atherosclerosis.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/jdc-jsf032712.php