“Researchers also concluded that having a healthy lifestyle and weight that reduces insulin levels could also be an important factor in increasing longevity in humans.”
If this is so, next time you are planning on bolusing away as the sole means to keep your sugars under control, think twice…
More details: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77713.php
My take is a bit different on what this means. Although I would agree that minimizing insulin requirements is always a good thing, the main issue seems to be people with insulin resistance who have excessive amounts of insulin in the bloodstream, as it causes excessive inflammation which increases the likelihood of cardiovascular problems and is damaging to the cells in the body. Generally, type 1’s do not have a problem with too much insulin, they often don’t have enough. However, some people with type 2 are so insulin resistant that they use U-500 insulin (it must be special ordered) because their dosages are so high.
Minimizing insulin requirements is always beneficial, but we cannot reduce them so much that blood glucose levels are excessively elevated, so it is indeed a tightrope we’re asked to walk each day.
The study that is being cited is a study in mice that had a gene removed. To extend its findings to humans is very far fetched.
They are suggesting that mice with high blood sugars but few insulin receptors in their brains outlived mice with normal blood sugars and insulin receptors in their brains.
We have no idea what the effect of removing insulin receptors from the brain might be on the function of the cortex, which is the part of the brain that mice have very little of, and you use for thought.
Looking at humans we can say conclusively that people with high blood sugars do NOT outlive people with lower blood sugars for a host of reasons.
The way in which the press reports rodent studies without ever mentioning that very few findings in mice relative to diabetes ever translate to humans, is pathetic.
Now doctors will use this as yet another reason to deny people with Type 2 the insulin they need to regain normal blood sugars and prevent severe complications.
Now who’d a thunk that taking better general care of yourself coiuld let you live longer? the wonders of science!
Seeing as it’s usually hard to detect in text, all the above was dripping with sarcasm.
I don’t think the point is that less insulin = longer life, but what leads to one thing also leads to another. In this case it’s taking care of yourself resulting in a smaller need for insulin (which non-diabetics also have, let us not forget) as well as a better life.
I don’t thin all this leads to longer life, though. More like it lets us live as long as we should. We’re not finding a miracle life extension, rather, we’re cutting down on what cuts our lives short.
It’s done on mice! When will they try it on humans??? I have to go along with Scott,Jenny and Kristofer here.