Ben Bikman & Insulin Resistance

Introduction

On September 5th, 2024, we posted a podcast with Professor Ben Bikman about the GLP-1 agonist weight loss drugs. If you haven’t watched or listened to it yet, it’s here (Ref 1). This inspired me to read Ben’s book “Why we get sick” on my recent holiday. I highly recommend reading it. It’s the definitive book on insulin resistance.

I frequently describe type 2 diabetes (T2D) as the body saying, “enough is enough.” The body is effectively saying “you’ve consumed too much carbohydrate, too often and for too long, I’m done – I can’t regulate blood glucose levels anymore.” I continue to hold that view. However, it is simplistic in two key ways. First, it doesn’t describe the mechanism by which the body gets to “enough is enough”. Second, carbohydrate is not the only factor that can play a part in that mechanism. Ben’s book describes the mechanism exquisitely and it also details the many different factors that can trigger the mechanism.

I’m going to share some of the passages from Ben’s book verbatim, because his way with words is so powerful. I’ll use the passages to piece together the way in which Ben fully explains the “enough is enough.” I’ll then move on to the other factors to which I hadn’t previously given much thought. All italics from this point on are extracts from Ben’s book.