Oxidative Stress Precedes Insulin Resistance

For a long time, scientists have known that free radical damage is an important component of insulin resistance, one of the most important factors leading to diabetes and other diseases. Up until recently, scientists have thought that the excessive numbers of free radicals produced in prediabetic people with insulin resistance were a consequence of the insulin resistance rather than the cause. However, studies indicate that free radical damage might have an even more important role to play in insulin resistance than previously thought.

The involvement of free radicals and reactive oxygen species in the development of inflammatory and degenerative disease has now been widely accepted. In the case of the development of atherosclerotic plaque that occurs during cardiovascular disease, LDL oxidation caused by free radicals appears to explain many of the detrimental events that occur during the life history of the plaque.

Research strongly suggest that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are a common thread strung between many other diseases. In fact, a recent study reveals that they could very likely be the cause behind one of the most damaging processes to occur in the body—insulin resistance.

. Meigs JB, Larson MG, Fox CS, Keaney JF Jr, Vasan RS, Benjamin EJ. Association of oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and diabetes risk phenotypes: the Framingham Offspring Study. Diabetes Care.