8Nutritional Support for Insulin Resistance: A Summary

Blood sugar, or serum glucose, is the basic fuel that all cells in the body use to make energy. Glucose can only be put to work and trans-formed into energy once it is in the cells, not when it is circulating in the bloodstream. In an optimal state, the body maintains the blood glucose level in a fairly narrow range. Not too low (which is called hypoglycemia), and not too high (called hyperglycemia). This stability is important because imbalances, particularly raised levels, can cause serious health problems. Chronically elevated blood glucose levels result in the development of diabetes, which can lead to severe complications such as cataracts, blindness, kidney failure, and heart disease.3 The body keeps blood sugar levels in the normal range through the secretion of the hormone, insulin, which allows glucose to be trans-ported from the bloodstream into the cells. However, in many indi-viduals the cells don’t respond to the insulin “signal ” to allow glu