SAN FRANCISCO (Dispatches) -- Stanford Medicine scientists have linked insulin resistance to an increased risk of developing major depressive disorder.
Insulin’s job is to tell our cells it’s time for them to process the glucose that’s flooding our blood due to our dietary intake of it, its manufacture in our liver or both. Every cell in the body uses glucose as fuel, and each of those cells has receptors on its surface that, on binding to insulin, signals the cell to ingest the precious energy source. But an increasing proportion of the world’s population is insulin-resistant: For various reasons -- including excessive caloric intake, lack of exercise, stress and not getting enough sleep -- their insulin receptors fail to bind to insulin properly. Eventually, their blood-sugar levels become chronically high. Once those levels stay above a certain threshold, the diagnosis is Type 2 diabetes, a treatable but incurable condition that can lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders, neuropathy, kidney disease, limb amputations and other detrimental health outcomes.