If you read a warning label on your insulin that said - may decrease the amount of insulin you produce - would you think twice about injecting?
Any foreign matter that enters the body can stimulate antibody production. Foreign insulin, especially genetically modified human insulin (GM insulin), is no exception to the rule. More importantly, in relation to its increasingly exclusive dominance in the USA [since 1983], are the types of antibodies created by GM insulin. They could be similar to the types of antibodies that cause type 1 diabetes - also known as insulin-dependent diabetes.
Insulin auto-antibodies (IA-A) and c-peptide measurements can help you tell if your injected GM insulin is stimulating 'anti-your-own-body' cells. This response is often referred to as an auto-immune or inflammatory disease. This is because IA-A can trigger inflammation and an attack by specific immune system cells. For example IA-A can attract a targeted attack on your beta bells (the cells naturally producing your own insulin and c-peptide) by exciting your seek and destroy cells (aka the the IA-A militia).
Research has found that GM insulin can stimulate approximately 60% more IA-A than porcine (pig) insulin. Also because GM insulin is more identical to human insulin, than porcine insulin, GM IA-A are probably more efficient than porcine IA-A, at duplicating the effects of natural human I-IA. Type 1 or type 2 diabetes can be considered an inflammatory disease when the beta cells become an inflamed 'war zone' resulting from IA-A helping to target natural insulin at its production site.
If you are a type 2 diabetic injecting GM insulin - please strongly encourage your doctor to continue measuring your c-peptide level regularly (and make sure you find out what your c-peptide is before you start injecting!). Once your c-peptide level begins dropping to normal or low - suggest pumping the brakes on your GM insulin regimen. Research suggests that prevalence of IA-A is related to duration of insulin therapy, so BEWARE, you could be headed toward GM insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes
