Insulin & Metabolic Rate ~ Am I Missing Anything?

-
As my regular readers are well aware, I've read a ton of peer review research on insulin and its action.  I also have a pretty freakish memory for certain things, so if I'd come across even an aside from a reputable source, I would have remembered it.  

So, I have yet to come across any information that insulin directly alters metabolism.  By that I mean the basal metabolic rate to keep you live and not-so-kickin -- BMR/RMR/REE.  As close as it comes is that insulin stimulates glycolysis (oxidation of glucose for energy), but it also suppresses fatty acid metabolism so that would seem to be a wash to me -- substrate switch but no impact on total rate of fuel burning.  I'm also not talking about minor differences in the TEF for carbs vs. other macros as this does not appear to be related to hormones per se.  

I'm talking whether insulin has any known action like that of leptin that specifically increases or decreases metabolic rate.  Have I missed anything?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

cwaiand said…
from what i,ve read at lyle macdonalds site that is exactly how it works.burn more carbs burn less fat or burn more fat burn less carb.carb is still the preferred fuel of choice.
September 17, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Diana said…
Evelyn,

I put a comment in the post below that I mean to put here. It's not about leptin, just about insulin and body weight (so is indirectly about leptin as well as all the other hormones secreted about adipose tissue).

Here it is:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21617179

"Neither insulin sensitivity nor insulin secretion predicts spontaneous weight gain. Individuals who have attained a higher weight are prone to either gaining or losing weight regardless of their glucose tolerance."

Sorry!
September 17, 2011 at 1:28 PM
Mario Iwakura said…
Hi Evelyn,


I don't know if insulin affects metabolism directly, what I know is that thyroid hormones do affect both metabolism and insulin. For example:

Influence of thyroid hormone level on insulin action in human adipose tissue:

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/33/4/369.abstract
September 17, 2011 at 5:53 PM
Kindke said…
insulin has no direct action on metabolic rate, its a storage hormone,

its effects are indirect, by increasing leptin etc.
September 18, 2011 at 1:39 PM
Anonymous said…
'By that I mean the basal metabolic rate to keep you live and not-so-kickin -- BMR/RMR/REE.'

I went to the pubmed database. I spent more time trying to find information about all the things that affect BMR than looking for the direct effect of insulin (there is no direct effect, judging from searching that database). Interesting stuff!
September 18, 2011 at 2:37 PM
FredT said…
yes. speculation.
September 21, 2011 at 4:37 PM

Post a Comment

Comment Moderation is ON ... I will NOT be routinely reviewing or publishing comments at this time..