Insulin Resistance
ARE You one of the millions of teens with PCOS who have failed to reverse the symtoms of this PCOS no matter what you've tried? It may not be due to lack of willpower. Instead, you could be Insulin Resistant, a root cause of PCOS.
What CAUSES IR; IR has many factors that contribute to its presence in the body. Basically, our environment and lifestyles have evolved too rapidly for our bodies to keep pace. We are still genetically "wired" to thrive on the entrenched habits of our ancestors who consumed different, nutrient-rich foods, a diet low in carbohydrates and also sustained greater levels of movement and exercise. Some people may also have a genetic predisposition to IR. Others develop IR through unhealthy lifestyles. Overtime, the above factors have damaged the complex ability of our bodies' cells to properly utilize insulin to convert glucose to energy. Unhealthy diets cause the pancreas to overproduce insulin that overwhelms the cell reducing its sensitivity to insulin and impairing the vital process whereby glucose passes through the cell wall to be converted into energy.
This results in devastating effects:
- The de-sensitized cell wall causes the "rejected" insulin to enter the blood stream where it causes a variety of conditions including unbalanced hormones such as in PCOS.
- Unable to enter the cell because of the wall's insulin insensitivity, glucose stays in the blood stream and is converted to fat, leading to weight gain which can result in obesity.
- Eventually many health-related functions fail and cause numerous serious diseases besides PCOS, such as the cluster of increased risk of a heart attack or stroke called Metabolic Syndrome(Syndrome X) and Pre-Diabetes, which if neglected, can lead to Type 2 diabetes.
Current studies clearly link PCOS and IR.Srudies indicate that upto 40% of women with PCOS have either impaired glucose tolerance or Type 2 diabetes by age 40. In addition, with PCOS, high levels of insulin stimulate the ovaries to produce large amounts of testosterone(a male hormone), which can possibly prevent the ovaries from releasing an egg each month, causing infertility. High testosterone levels can also cause excessive hair growth, male pattern baldness and acne.
Because insulin production of the pancreas is thrown off by the Insulin Resistance, the conversion of food to energy is impaired and there is an increase in the amount of stored fats. When glucose cannot enter the cells efficiently, it remains in the blood stream, causing elevated blood sugar which is sent to the liver, where it converts to fat and is stored throughout the body.
** It is not always necessary that your blood glucose levels are elevated in your blood test, hence it is very important to test your Fasting Insulin Levels and if they are high then you should do the three Hour Glucose Tolerance test to test BOTH Insulin levels an Glucose levels.
When the body takes in calories, it has a choice of either burning those calories for energy or converting them to fat an storing them. In patients with PCOS, Insulin Resistance encourages the storage of fat and the production of excessive amounts of the male hormone testosterone.
Researches have also found a link between PCOS and other metabolic conditions such as high levels of obesity, LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) and high blood pressure. These are all risk factors for coronary heart disease, as well as symtoms of Metabolic Syndrome. Also known as Syndrome X, this disorder substantially increases your chances of developing Cardiovascular Disease. These findings substantially raised the bar on the seriousness of the condition and made it even more important that physicians correctly diagonose PCOS and recommend appropriate therapy.
