What Causes Insulin Resistance? Part III

As discussed in previous posts, cellular energy excess and inflammation are two important and interlinked causes of insulin resistance. Continuing our exploration of insulin resistance, let's turn our attention to the brain.

The brain influences every tissue in the body, in many instances managing tissue processes to react to changing environmental or internal conditions. It is intimately involved in insulin signaling in various tissues, for example by:

• regulating insulin secretion by the pancreas (1)
• regulating glucose absorption by tissues in response to insulin (2)
• regulating the suppression of glucose production by the liver in response to insulin (3)
• regulating the trafficking of fatty acids in and out of fat cells in response to insulin (4, 5)

Because of its important role in insulin signaling, the brain is a candidate mechanism of insulin resistance.

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