The primary job of the well known insulin peptide hormone is to regulate your blood’s glucose levels.
Typically, this hormone is produced in your pancreas, and those who have a problem with insulin productions develop a form of diabetes.
The first genetically engineered insulin was produced in 1978 under the brand name Humulin. If you were a type-1 diabetic around those times this was great news, because you no longer had to rely on harvested insulin from animals.
You see, type-1 diabetics are insulin dependent and are not capable of producing their own insulin. So the development of synthesized insulin was a huge deal in the medical field.
Knowing all of this information, one might think that intranasal insulin is an alternative to the standard type of insulin which needs to be injected into the body through shots or an insulin pump.
However, this isn’t the purpose for intranasal insulin development. In fact, diabetics do not benefit in any way from intranasal insulin at all.
If you atomize insulin and inhale it through your nose, you are successfully bypassing your bloods stream.
If insulin can’t get into your blood stream, then you can’t regulate your blood glucose levels, which renders the atomized insulin ineffective to those suffering from diabetes.
What exactly is the purpose for intranasal insulin?
Besides helping your blood glucose level management, insulin also affects your brain and its cognitive functionality.
Recently, in a new therapeutic movement, insulin has been atomized and inhaled through the nose in an attempt to rectify cognitive impairment and dementia.
The reason why insulin is being used through this new method is because of evidence pointing to a link between insulin receptors, insulin levels, and diminished insulin receptor signaling in Alzheimer's patients.
The problem with using insulin in a traditional way to attempt to treat these types of cognitive diseases is that it can, and most likely will, cause hypoglycemia or insulin resistance.
It is especially dangerous for those who do not have type-1 diabetes, because this would cause the body to receive a second dose of insulin on top of what it is already naturally producing.
Atomizing insulin bypasses the blood stream, which means the regulation of blood glucose levels isn’t affected at all.
This makes it possible to use insulin to correct brain related functions without affected the glucose levels in any way.
Although full functionality of insulin in the brain is still a bit fuzzy and not fully understood, there has been very stable and clear evidence that it does help with cognitive functionality.
There have been many links between insulin deficit aspects and Alzheimer's pathophysiology. Furthermore, type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and obesity have all been noted as risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.
Studies and Research
There has been a variety of different studies regarding the effectiveness of atomized insulin. There have also been trials with human patients to determine the effects that vaporized insulin can have on those with cognitive disabilities.
One study at the Veterans Affairs Hospital/University of Washington in Seattle determined that patients showed improved verbal memory retention and attention over the course of a three-week trial.
Some of the 24 patients were given placebos while others were given 20 international units of intranasal insulin.
Only the participants who received intranasal insulin showed improvements. The patients suffered from amnestic memory impairment (aMCI) or mild Alzheimer's disease.
In the next step, a four month long study was done with the involvement of 104 patients suffering from aMCI or mild to moderate AD.
Preservation of cognition and some conservation of function were shown in younger participants. Gender was also a factor, resulting in different responses to nasal insulin intake.
Additionally, larger scale studies were also started to determine the different effects of long acting versus short acting insulin types.
The group size was increased to 240 people while still maintaining the same 20 UI level of delivery. These studies are still running and results have not yet been posted.
There are currently studies underway which are evaluating nasal insulin spray effectiveness in psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression disorder.
Overall, nearly all studies and trials are pointing towards positive feedback from nasal insulin intake.
Some side-effects were reported, such as minor nose bleeds and nose irritation. This was throughout a four month long period of use.
What are the possibilities of intranasal insulin?
If proven to be safe and effective in the long run, intranasal insulin could do amazing things for people who are suffering from a variety of cognitive disorders.
Furthermore, it is possible that with more research intranasal insulin spray can be the next treatment specifically targeted towards correcting and even possibly reversing Alzheimer's disease.
But before anything can be set in stone, more research needs to be done and more studies with a broader amount of patients need to be concluded.
Because of the areas of the brain which are associated with insulin receptors, many other possibilities can be speculated regarding atomizing insulin.
Depression and anxiety are some of the conditions which can be associated with areas in the brain that can be affected by intranasal insulin.
It is possible that, in the future, depression can possibly be cured with the use of intranasal insulin. The same goes for anxiety. Can you imagine being able to treat your anxiety with a simple nasal spray dose of insulin?
Intranasal Insulin Guide Review Summary
So far, according to all the different studies, nasal spray is a very promising method to help with cognitive functionality.
Some people who were part of a few studies involving nasal insulin spray have verified that their memory was improved, mood was also greatly improved, and there were decreased stress levels in chronic stress situations as well as increased confidence.
Studies are well on their way to determining the safety of using nasal insulin spray, and hopefully there are no major long term side-effects.
This could be our next break through and could greatly improve the medical field by giving us the ability to cure patients who previously were thought to be incurable.
We are confident that more positive results will surface regarding the use of atomized insulin. All we have to do is wait.
