Insulin is a hormone made in your pancreas. It helps your body convert glucose (sugar) in your blood into energy. When you eat food, your blood glucose (blood sugar) levels rise. Insulin helps prevent your blood sugar from getting too high.

When you have insulin resistance, your body grows less efficient at converting glucose to energy. Your pancreas needs to produce more and more insulin to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

Insulin resistance can lead to prediabetes or diabetes, in which your body can't produce enough insulin to keep your blood sugar stable.

Insulin resistance rarely causes symptoms. If it leads to prediabetes (higher than normal blood sugar levels) or diabetes, you may begin to experience symptoms. However, insulin resistance itself is a symptomless condition for most people.

Several medical conditions may lead to the development of insulin resistance. These include:

Certain genetic and lifestyle factors can increase your risk. These include:

We don’t test specifically for insulin resistance. Your provider may diagnose you with the condition if blood tests show you have:

• High blood sugar
• High LDL cholesterol levels (“bad” cholesterol)
• High triglycerides
• Low HDL cholesterol levels (“good” cholesterol)

If you receive a diagnosis of insulin resistance, it doesn’t mean you will develop diabetes. Our experts will recommend a treatment plan to reduce or even reverse your body’s resistance. 

Our treatment plans focus on healthy diet and lifestyle habits that can reverse insulin resistance. We put you in control of your health. Our diabetes and endocrinology specialists may recommend:

Making changes to your diet and lifestyle can improve your health and prevent you from developing insulin resistance. Healthy lifestyle habits include: