Research
Hormonal
Insulin resistance leads to endothelial dysfunction by selectively impairing nitric oxide (NO) production while activating pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic pathways, contributing to hypertension and atherosclerosis.
Insulin resistance damages the lining of your blood vessels (endothelium) by reducing nitric oxide production. This leads to higher blood pressure and increased risk of heart disease. Improving insulin sensitivity helps protect your blood vessels.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In insulin resistance state, the NO synthesis stimulated by insulin is selectively impaired and the compensatory hyperinsulinemia may activate the MAPK pathway, resulting in a vasoconstriction enhancement, inflammation, increased sodium and water retention, resulting in the elevation of blood pressure.
Why this rating
Supported by clinical studies and mechanistic reviews cited.
Source
Association between insulin resistance and the development of cardiovascular disease
Valeska Ormazábal et al. · Cardiovascular Diabetology · 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12933-018-0762-4
narrative_reviewCited 2,367×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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