Insulin resistance score HOMA-IR
A score worked out from your fasting sugar and your fasting insulin.
Also printed asHOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance) · HOMA IR · Insulin Resistance Index · HOMA
What it measures
Fasting sugar and fasting insulin combined into one resistance number.
Tracks how deaf your cells have gone to insulin, which sits upstream of fatty liver, high triglycerides and low HDL.
Why it matters for how long you stay well
Insulin resistance sits upstream of a fatty liver, high blood fats, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, so catching it early buys healthy years. Labs measure insulin differently, so compare it with your own past results rather than anyone else's.
How it shows up in daily life
It puts a number on how hard your body is working to keep sugar normal, long before sugar itself looks wrong.
High and low readings
When it reads high
Your cells are answering insulin less readily.
When it reads low
Low means insulin is working well.
What moves it
Daily life
- refined carbohydrate and sugary drinks
- weight around your middle
- strength training
- sleep
- long sitting hours
Medicines known to shift it
- metformin (lowers it)
- GLP-1 medicines (lower it)
- steroids (raise it)
Listed so a result can be read in context. It is not advice to start, stop or change any medicine; that decision belongs with your physician.
Read it with
Markers that move this one, or that this one moves. One number read alone can mislead.
- Fasting sugarKnown mechanism
Fasting sugar is part of its calculation
Your insulin resistance score was never measured on your blood. It is your fasting sugar and fasting insulin put through a formula, and this is one half of it.
- Fasting insulinKnown mechanism
Fasting insulin is part of its calculation
Fasting insulin is the other half of that formula, and the louder half. When insulin climbs, the score climbs with it even if your sugar has not moved.
- Triglycerides, blood fatsKnown mechanism
As this rises, Triglycerides rises with it
When insulin stops working properly, your liver starts pushing fat out into the blood. That is what lifts triglycerides, long before sugar itself looks wrong.
- HDL, the clearing cholesterolObserved association
As this rises, HDL falls as it rises
Insulin resistance and a low HDL almost always turn up together. The same fat-handling problem produces both, which is why working on the insulin side lifts the HDL side.
- ALT, the liver-specific enzymeObserved association
As this rises, ALT rises with it
Insulin resistance parks fat inside your liver. A liver holding extra fat leaks more ALT into the blood, which is how a sugar problem shows up on a liver test.
Common questions
What does HOMA-IR measure?
Fasting sugar and fasting insulin combined into one resistance number. Tracks how deaf your cells have gone to insulin, which sits upstream of fatty liver, high triglycerides and low HDL.
What does a high Insulin resistance score result usually mean?
Your cells are answering insulin less readily.
What does a low Insulin resistance score result usually mean?
Low means insulin is working well.
What is the usual reference range for Insulin resistance score?
A broad adult reference band is 0.5–2. Labs differ, so read your result against the band printed on your own report.
Educational only, not a diagnosis. A single number means little without your history and the rest of your panel, so discuss your own results with your physician.
Typical adult reference band
- Adults
- 0.5–2
Labs differ. The band printed on your own report is the one that applies to your result.
Reported in ratio
Ageing relevance
5/5
A direct input to a validated biological-age algorithm.
Worth knowing
The formula behind this score was published in nineteen eighty-five and labs still use it unchanged.
Related reading
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