Key Benefits

• Check how well your body responds to insulin.
• Spot early insulin resistance before standard blood sugar tests become abnormal.
• Flag higher risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic health problems.
• Clarify fatigue, cravings, or stubborn weight gain linked to insulin imbalance.
• Guide nutrition, activity, sleep, and medication choices to improve insulin sensitivity.
• Protect heart and liver health by flagging heart disease and fatty liver risk.
• Support fertility and PCOS care by identifying insulin-driven hormone disruption.
• Track progress from lifestyle or therapy changes with repeat fasting measurements.

What are Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance biomarkers reveal how well insulin’s message is getting through to muscle, liver, and fat cells, and how hard the pancreas must work to keep blood sugar steady. They translate the body’s fuel traffic into signals you can track: immediate insulin–glucose balance (fasting insulin, C‑peptide, glucose), longer-term sugar exposure (glycated hemoglobin, HbA1c), how fats are handled (triglycerides, HDL cholesterol), liver strain linked to sugar and fat overload (ALT, GGT), and the metabolic “background noise” of inflammation and adipose hormones (high‑sensitivity C‑reactive protein, adiponectin, leptin). Together, these markers reflect tissue sensitivity to insulin (insulin action), pancreatic workload (beta‑cell stress), liver glucose production (hepatic output), and fat release from adipose tissue (lipolysis). Testing them helps spot metabolic friction years before overt high blood sugar, clarifies where resistance is most active, and shows whether lifestyle or treatments are restoring insulin’s effect. In short, insulin resistance biomarkers provide an early, systems-level view of energy regulation, enabling timely action to protect metabolic health and lower the future risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, and cardiovascular disease.

Why are Insulin Resistance biomarkers important?

Insulin resistance biomarkers show how efficiently your body turns food into usable energy. They capture the conversation among pancreas, liver, muscle, fat, and blood vessels—how insulin moves glucose into cells, how the liver releases sugar, how fat is handled, and how the brain is fueled.

In practice, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and composite indices (like TyG and HOMA-IR) are interpreted together. Fasting glucose typically spans about 70–99, with lower‑normal values often reflecting better sensitivity. Fasting insulin commonly falls near 2–10, where single‑digit values tend to be favorable. TyG is unitless; in many cohorts it sits in the 8s, with lower values generally better and risk rising toward the high‑8s to 9s (cutoffs vary by study).

When these markers are low—glucose and insulin in the lower‑normal range—they signal efficient insulin signaling and flexible metabolism. If glucose dips too low, shakiness, sweating, and confusion can occur; this is more likely in children, after prolonged fasting, or when glucose‑lowering medications are present. Trained athletes often run low without symptoms.

When fasting insulin, glucose, or TyG drift high, it points to hepatic and adipose insulin resistance: the liver overreleases glucose, fat tissue leaks fatty acids, and triglycerides climb. People may notice fatigue after meals, brain fog, increased waist circumference, or skin tags. Puberty and pregnancy naturally raise insulin needs; women with PCOS and men with more visceral fat often show higher values.

Big picture: these biomarkers connect metabolism to cardiovascular risk, fatty liver, kidney strain, and cognition. Tracked with triglycerides, HDL, A1c, ALT, and C‑peptide, they reveal early shifts years before diabetes, sharpening risk assessment and long‑term planning.

What Insights Will I Get?

Insulin resistance sits at the crossroads of energy flow, metabolic flexibility, and vascular health. When cells respond poorly to insulin, glucose handling, lipid traffic, and inflammation all shift, influencing cardiovascular risk, cognition, fertility, and immune tone. At Superpower, we test Insulin, Glucose, and the TyG Index to map this system.

Insulin is the hormone that helps move glucose into cells; higher fasting insulin often signals compensatory output to overcome cellular resistance (hyperinsulinemia). Glucose is the circulating fuel; fasting glucose typically rises later, when resistance and beta‑cell stress are more advanced (impaired fasting glucose). The TyG Index combines fasting triglycerides and glucose; it is a validated surrogate of insulin resistance, particularly in the liver, and reflects lipid–glucose coupling and ectopic fat burden.

Insulin: Lower, stable fasting insulin suggests efficient signaling; elevated levels with normal glucose indicate early compensation; persistent elevation with rising glucose indicates diminishing beta‑cell reserve. Glucose: Stable, normal fasting glucose indicates effective glycemic control; upward drift signals impaired regulation and higher cardiometabolic strain. TyG Index: Lower values indicate flexible fuel handling and favorable hepatic insulin action; higher values indicate reduced metabolic flexibility, hepatic insulin resistance, and a more atherogenic milieu.

Notes: Interpretation is influenced by fasting status, acute illness or stress, pregnancy, age/puberty or menopause, sleep loss, and recent strenuous exercise. Medications (e.g., glucocorticoids, beta‑blockers, thiazides, statins), liver steatosis, and assay variability also affect results. Single measurements can fluctuate; context improves accuracy.