The Insulin/ Heart Connection

Is insulin resistance the first sign of heart disease? A growing Body of evidence says it is

- By Jonny Bowden

Back in 2012 when cardiologist Steven Sinatra, MD, and I wrote our book, The Great Cholesterol Myth, I was pretty certain that testing for “good” and “bad” cholesterol was out of date, and that our belief in its value was no longer justified. “Bad” cholesterol was a lousy predictor of heart disease, was inaccurately named, and was certainly not enough on which to base a prescription for a powerful drug.

But I confess, I wasn’t 100 percent sure what we should be looking for. Now I am. It’s insulin resistance. Let me explain.

Insulin resistance is to heart disease what smoking is to lung disease

Insulin resistance (IR) doesn’t account for all cases of heart disease any more than smoking accounts for all incidences of lung cancer. But it tracks with and predicts cardiovascular disease better than any other variable yet studied.

And it shows up earlier. As a predictive marker, it blows “bad” cholesterol out of the proverbial water.

In the new and revised edition of our book—due out in 2021—we painstakingly detail the research showing that IR predates cardiovascular disease with startling consistency. In fact, the connection is so obvious and demonstrable that we consider insulin resistance syndrome as one, if not the primary, cause of heart disease. It’s been hiding in plain sight for a very long time.