High insulin level raises breast cancer risk

Insulin is required for all animal (including human) life. In humans, insulin deprivation due to the removal or destruction of the pancreas leads to death in days or at most weeks. Insulin must be administered to patients in whom there is a lack of the hormone.

WHAT'S INSULIN?
Insulin is a hormone that performs a variety of tasks in the human body, and is key to regulating blood sugar levels. Insulin is produced in the pancreas by the Beta cells (or "B cells").

One of insulin's many functions is to store glucose in liver and muscle cells. Those cells can use the glucose for immediate energy, store it in the form of glycogen for later use, or convert it into fat for long-term use.

Insulin resistance (IR) is the condition in which normal amounts of insulin are inadequate to produce a normal insulin response from fat, muscle and liver cells. Insulin resistance in fat cells reduces the effects of insulin and results in elevated hydrolysis of stored triglycerides in the absence of measures which either increase insulin sensitivity or which provide additional insulin. Increased mobilization of stored lipids in these cells elevates free fatty acids in the blood plasma. Insulin resistance in muscle cells reduces glucose uptake (and so local storage of glucose as glycogen), whereas insulin resistance in liver cells results in impaired glycogen synthesis and a failure to suppress glucose production.

HIGH INSULIN LEVEL
If the body needs energy and can't burn fat because of high insulin levels, a person feels tired as their brain starves and metabolism slows to compensate. This occurs because the brain runs on glucose and high insulin levels deplete blood glucose levels. Such a condition, rebound hypoglycemia, causes sweet cravings (which just starts the high-insulin cycle all over again).

OBESITY-BREAST CANCER RELATIONSHIP
BUT Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City compared insulin levels in 835 women who developed breast cancer and 816 women who did not in the Women's Health Initiative study.According to the study, those whose insulin levels were the highest had a 1.5 times greater risk of developing breast cancer than did women with the lowest fasting insulin levels.

In laboratory studies, insulin has been shown to stimulate the growth of breast cells, and overweight has been identified as a risk factor for breast cancer, found by the American Cancer Society.

"These data suggest that hyperinsulinemia is an independent risk factor for breast cancer and may have a substantial role in explaining the obesity-breast cancer relationship," the researchers wrote.

QUESTION
How to regulate insulin to keep it always in optimum level? What type of food supplement that can contribute to regulate you insulin system?