- With Mayo Clinic endocrinologist
Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Dr. Maria Collazo-Clavell is board certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism. She is a consultant in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism & Nutrition at Mayo Clinic and an assistant professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
The Aibonito, Puerto Rico, native has been with Mayo Clinic since 1994.
She is a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American College of Endocrinology, the American Diabetes Association and The Endocrine Society.
Dr. Collazo-Clavell is medical editor for the Web site's diabetes content and the book "Mayo Clinic on Managing Diabetes." Her clinical interests include management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity and nutritional disorders.
Risk factors (1)
- Diabetes: Does alcohol and tobacco use increase my risk?
Symptoms (1)
- The 'dawn phenomenon': What causes it?
Causes (1)
- Diabetes and depression: What's the link?
Complications (2)
- Diabetes: How does it affect my liver?
- Blood sugar and mood: Any connection?
Treatments and drugs (3)
- Diabetes management: Does aspirin therapy prevent heart problems?
- Blood glucose monitors: What factors affect accuracy?
- Byetta: Can diabetes drug also help me lose weight?
Lifestyle and home remedies (10)
- Vegetarian diet: Can it help me control my diabetes?
- Diabetes: Are electric blankets off-limits?
- Glucosamine: Does it affect blood sugar?
- see all in Lifestyle and home remedies
Alternative medicine (1)
- Diabetes treatment: Can cinnamon lower blood sugar?
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Question
Hyperinsulinemia: Is it diabetes?
Is hyperinsulinemia a form of diabetes?
Answer
from Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Hyperinsulinemia means the amount of insulin in your blood is higher than considered normal. It isn't diabetes. But hyperinsulinemia is often associated with type 2 diabetes.
Insulin is produced by your pancreas and helps regulate blood sugar. Hyperinsulinemia is a sign of an underlying problem controlling blood sugar, which requires your pancreas to secrete large amounts of insulin to keep your blood sugar within a normal range.
Hyperinsulinemia may be caused by insulin resistance — a condition in which your body is resistant to the effects of insulin and your pancreas tries to compensate by making more insulin. Insulin resistance may also eventually lead to the development of type 2 diabetes — when your pancreas is no longer able to secrete the large amounts of insulin required to keep the blood sugar normal.
Rarely, hyperinsulinemia is caused by:
- A tumor of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas (insulinoma)
- Excessive numbers of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas (nesidioblastosis)
Hyperinsulinemia causes no signs or symptoms unless it causes low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Treatment of hyperinsulinemia is directed at the underlying problem.
Next questionDiabetes: Does alcohol and tobacco use increase my risk?
- Buse JB, et al. Type 2 diabetes mellitus. In: Kronenberg HM, et al. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/167740868-4/0/1555/187.html?tocnode=54108532&fromURL=187.html. Accessed Oct. 28, 2009.
- Kahn MI, et al. Carbohydrates. In: McPherson RA, et al. Henry's Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. 21st ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/167740868-6/0/1393/115.html?tocnode=51748690&fromURL=115.html#4-u1.0-B1-4160-0287-1..50020-3_771. Accessed Oct. 28, 2009.
