The Study
Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and liver: a positron emission tomography study
This study looked at how well different parts of the body (like muscles and fat) use sugar when insulin is present. It found that people with more body fat or who are older tend to use sugar less well—but it didn’t change anything to test if those things actually cause the problem.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at how different body tissues absorb sugar when insulin is high, like after eating.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 544 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1If your muscles take up less than 33 units of sugar per minute during insulin stimulation, you’re likely insulin resistant — a key step toward type 2 diabetes.
- 2Muscles need to take up more than 33 units of sugar per minute to be healthy; fat tissue needs more than 11.5 units.
- 3Liver sugar uptake doesn’t match muscle or fat.
- 4Men’s livers don’t respond to insulin as well as women’s.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
European Journal of Endocrinology
Year
2018
Authors
Miikka-Juhani Honka, A. Latva-Rasku, M. Bucci, K. Virtanen, J. Hannukainen, K. Kalliokoski, P. Nuutila
Related Content
Claims (7)
Skeletal muscle controls how the body removes glucose from the blood and helps maintain normal insulin sensitivity.
With age, the liver and fat tissue take up more glucose in response to insulin, while skeletal muscle does not, resulting in a change in where the body directs glucose after eating.
In adults without diabetes, the rate at which skeletal muscle takes up glucose during insulin stimulation is directly linked to overall insulin sensitivity, and a rate of 33 µmol/kg tissue/min separates individuals with insulin resistance from those who are insulin sensitive, indicating that muscle glucose uptake is a main factor controlling whole-body insulin sensitivity.
People with higher body fat have lower rates of glucose uptake in skeletal muscle, subcutaneous fat, and liver tissue.
The liver's uptake of glucose in response to insulin does not strongly relate to how sensitive the whole body is to insulin or how much glucose skeletal muscle takes up, and its connection to insulin resistance varies across studies, suggesting the liver's response to insulin is controlled separately from muscle and fat tissue.
During insulin stimulation, the liver in men releases more glucose than in women, and this difference is linked to how sensitive the body is to insulin in women but not in men.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.