Insulin

About insulin

Insulin is a hormone that is made by beta cells in your pancreas. These beta cells make and release insulin into your blood. Insulin circulates in your bloodstream and allows glucose to enter cells all over your body, where the glucose is used for energy. When insulin allows glucose to enter the cells, the remaining supply of glucose in your blood decreases. That is, the presence of insulin in your body has the effect of lowering blood glucose. This is good for your body as higher-than-normal glucose in the blood can cause medical issues, such as diabetes and hyperglycemia. Insulin also controls other aspects of metabolism, such as converting fat into glucose and glucose into fat.

Diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is the term used to describe higher-than-normal glucose levels in the blood. There are different causes and types of diabetes, but all have a higher-than-normal glucose level in the blood. Since insulin lowers glucose levels in the blood, insulin injections are often used to control glucose levels, which is important for your health.

Failure to control blood sugar levels leads to complications such as:

loss of vision,
diseases of the arteries, kidneys and heart

Insulin is required to treat type 1 diabetes. Other treatments or interventions, such as diet and exercise, are usually used before insulin to treat type 2 diabetes. Insulin is used to treat type 2 diabetes when these treatments or interventions aren’t enough or no longer work.

Types of insulin used for treatment

Historically, 2 types of insulin were used to manage diabetes:

animal-sourced insulin
genetically engineered human insulin

Animal-sourced insulins were the first kind of insulin available to manage diabetes.

Genetically engineered human insulin is also called:

human insulin
recombinant insulin
DNA-derived insulin
biosynthetic human insulin

The first human insulin was authorized for the Canadian market in 1983. Since then, human insulin has been shown to be safe and effective for treating type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

In addition to the original human insulins, newer human insulin products are now available, including fast-acting insulin and basal or long-acting insulin. These new versions provide more choice when determining the most appropriate insulin to use.

With advances in these new types of insulin products, the demand for animal-sourced insulins has declined. Manufacturers have responded to the change in demand by focusing on the production and sale of their human insulins.

Learn more about the availability of animal-sourced insulins .

Possible health effects of insulin

While insulin is an important tool in managing diabetes, it can also have unwanted health effects on the body.

Antibodies

When insulin is introduced into your body, your body’s immune system may recognize the insulin as foreign and begin manufacturing antibodies to fight and eliminate it. In some cases, this means you need to take more insulin to manage your diabetes.

Hypoglycemia

If you take too much insulin, this can lead to blood glucose levels that are too low. This is known as hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia can cause:

fatigue
hunger
sweating
heart palpitations
disturbed behaviour
loss of consciousness
death, in extreme circumstances

Hypoglycemia might be brought on:

when the amount of food you eat isn’t balanced with the amount of insulin you take or you have a change in your diet
when you have engaged in too much physical activity and not eaten enough food
if the insulin dose taken is more than your body needs at the time (for example, your insulin needs may change with illness)
if there’s a change in your dosage regime, your type of insulin or your insulin product

It’s important that you understand:

why low blood glucose occurs
what to do about it
how to prevent it in the future

Symptoms and signs of hypoglycemia can vary from person to person and can be very subtle and hard to recognize. Your ability to recognize the symptoms of low blood glucose may also be affected by other medications, as some medications may mask the symptoms of hypoglycemia. This means you might not be aware of your blood glucose being low which could be dangerous.

Minimizing your risk of negative health effects

The more difficult it is for you to manage your blood glucose, the more likely you are to experience a variety of negative reactions. Follow these steps to help manage your diabetes:

Consult with your health care provider to decide on the most appropriate insulin treatment for you.
Ask your health care provider about and learn to recognize the possible symptoms of low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) and high blood glucose (hyperglycemia), and how to manage both effectively.
Ensure that you monitor your blood glucose regularly.
Consult a dietician. Eat snacks between meals, at bedtime and especially before you exercise.
Know your insulin. There are many different insulin products available in Canada and some of them look and sound similar. It’s important that you use the insulin prescribed or recommended by your health care provider.
Let your health care provider know if you are feeling ill, as your insulin requirements may change during this time.
Always consult your health care provider before taking new medications and notify any treating health care provider of your diabetes and insulin treatment.
Wear a medic-alert bracelet.

Health Canada's role

Health Canada ensures the safety, quality and efficacy of insulin available to people in Canada and promotes the informed use of these products. Health Canada carries out an extensive pre-market review of information about a product before it can be sold in Canada. A post-market lot release program is an additional check to help assure the product's continued safety for human use. However, Health Canada can’t require a manufacturer to create or sell any particular type of insulin or health product.

In addition, Health Canada monitors adverse effects associated with taking insulin. Reporting of adverse reactions by consumers and health care providers helps to identify trends. Health Canada assesses this information and then shares the conclusions with health care providers and consumers. When appropriate, information collected from people also plays a part in updating product information.

More information

To report any adverse reactions with the insulin you are currently taking, you can email or call the toll-free phone or fax lines:

E-mail: canada.vigilance@hc-sc.gc.ca
Telephone: 1-866-234-2345
Fax: 1-866-678-6789

Calls will automatically be routed to the appropriate regional adverse reaction monitoring office.

You can also report adverse reactions online.
You can contact your Canada Vigilance regional office.

If you require insulin authorized in other countries but not available in Canada, Health Canada's Special Access Programme (SAP) may be able to help

For more information about diabetes, visit:

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Date modified:: 2025-03-18

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