The HOMA-IR Test

HOMA-IR stands for Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance. It's a test that's ordered by your doctor to determine whether you have insulin resistance and if so, the extent of that insulin resistance. With the global epidemic of diabetes only worsening, I believe this test should become a vital component of everyone's annual medical exam or physical.

In the 1920s, the patent for insulin was sold by Canadian scientist Frederick Banting to the University of Toronto for $1. "Insulin belongs to the world, not to me," Banting said at the time of the sale. Before the discovery of insulin, diabetics lived a few years, if they were lucky, by following a "starvation diet."

Interestingly, insulin today generates billions in revenue annually, and insulin sales have skyrocketed 80% in the last decade. What would certainly disrupt this business would be the HOMA-IR test being taken into serious consideration and administered by physicians across the globe. 

Insulin resistance is the genesis of Type 2 Diabetes, which accounts for 95% of all diabetes cases. Impaired insulin signaling and insulin resistance can present itself decades before the onset of prediabetes or diabetes. If insulin resistance is detected via the HOMA-IR test, doctors can stress lifestyle changes to bring the insulin resistance down, and continue to monitor the patient's progress at each subsequent exam.

According to a 2013 article in the American Journal of Managed Care, "Part of the reason why our medical system has failed to stem this tide [of diabetes] has been the fact that current approaches diagnose diabetes too late - by the time frank diabetes is evident, 80% of beta cell function has already been lost," adding: "...the battle against diabetes will only be won when we recognize that the disease we need to identify and aggressively treat is insulin resistance. Diabetes is the end stage to be prevented, not the jumping-on point for our medical system."

I can't divulge in detail in this one post how deeply insulin resistance will destroy the human body and mind. How fixing this issue could be the key to healing many ailments and to bringing about a more prosperous and effervescent human population.