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I need a short article or brochure explaining insulin resistance to give to my son's school. It shouldn't start with an explanation of beta cells! It should explain the basic idea about the body still making enough insulin, but how cells don't respond well. It should explain that IR can lead to pre-diabetes, and it should explain that insulin resistance and pre-diabetes are not exact synonyms.

Everything good I've found so far is too long, e.g. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/types/prediabetes-insulin-resistance

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  • Hi! I am not sure you will find something about "insulin resistance explained to kids" as even this concept is not even known to many adults. I was wondering: as you seem to have some good knowledge on it, why don't you just make one yourself? Maybe it would be easier. Here an example of how diabetes is explained to kids by the diabetes research institute foundation: diabetesresearch.org/document.doc?id=274. You could do something similar for insulin resistance. It's just a suggestion. Anyway, good luck, best regards, M. Arrowsmith – M. Arrowsmith Sep 10 '16 at 8:27
  • How old is your son and why exactly do you want to make him read such an article? – Jan Sep 10 '16 at 13:50
  • @Jan - He is 13. See next comment. – aparente001 Sep 11 '16 at 2:36
  • @aparente001. Indeed, I misunderstood your purpose. Your description of what the article should achieve and the elements it should not start with (It shouldn't start with an explanation of beta cells) made me believe the article was meant for the children of your son's school. Tbh I am still not sure what exactly you were looking for, particularly when I look your answer below. But you have found something, which seems to suit you, and this is the most important thing! Good luck, Best regards. M. Arrowsmith – M. Arrowsmith Sep 11 '16 at 8:38
  • @M.Arrowsmith - I wanted something not too technical that the school personnel would understand. They keep confusing hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. (They don't see the former occurring and therefore assume he doesn't have IR.) They also confuse pre-diabetes and IR. (He doesn't have the former, or the lab values that would go with the former, and therefore they assume he doesn't have IR.) – aparente001 Sep 12 '16 at 4:19
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After massive searching I found a suitable fact sheet. Its primary focus is diabetes but it includes the basic information I need to get across about insulin resistance.

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/statsreport14/national-diabetes-report-web.pdf

Insulin resistance is explained succinctly, and well, on p. 9. Also, the difference between the terms "pre-diabetes" and "insulin resistance" is made clear in this fact sheet. (That is something the school has always been confused about. They think that because the specialist has not diagnosed pre-diabetes, therefore my son isn't insulin resistant.)

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  • On this site, is it not the custom to give a reason for a negative vote? – aparente001 Sep 12 '16 at 4:12
  • Hmm... I don't understand the downvote either. Perfectly good answer. +1 – Carey Gregory♦ Oct 17 '16 at 21:55
  • As to your question, explaining downvotes is encouraged but not mandatory. There has been recent discussion about that in meta, which you might want to read. – Carey Gregory♦ Oct 17 '16 at 21:58

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