Hormonal
Acute elevation of plasma insulin to levels observed in fasting overweight subjects stimulates sympathetic nerve activity in lean subjects, suggesting hyperinsulinemia contributes to sympathetic activation in obesity.
High insulin levels, even in lean individuals, can trigger increased sympathetic nerve activity. This suggests that insulin resistance and high fasting insulin levels in overweight individuals may be a key driver of the high blood pressure and vascular resistance seen in obesity. Managing insulin levels through diet and lifestyle may help reduce this sympathetic drive.
low-dose insulin infusion... evoked marked sympathetic activation; sympathetic burst frequency increased from 11±1 at basal to 21±2 bursts per minute at the end of insulin/glucose infusion (P<.05).
Why this rating
Controlled experimental protocol (insulin infusion) in a small subset (n=5), providing strong causal evidence for the insulin-sympathetic link, though generalizability is limited by sample size.
Source
Body fat and sympathetic nerve activity in healthy subjects.
Urs Scherrer et al. · Circulation · 1994
DOI 10.1161/01.cir.89.6.2634
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