C-peptide and insulin production
Biomarker library
Diabetes Health
C-peptide
C-peptide is released in equal amounts with insulin whenever the pancreas makes it, so it shows how much insulin your own body is producing.
Measured in your health assessment, with a doctor to explain your result. Book yours
Why it matters
Unlike insulin, it isn't rapidly removed by the liver and isn't present in injected insulin, which makes it a cleaner measure of your own output. It helps tell insulin resistance (high output) apart from a tiring pancreas (low output).
What a result can mean
Lower than the range
A low C-peptide means the pancreas is making little insulin, as in type 1 diabetes or long-standing type 2 diabetes, and helps doctors choose the right treatment.
Higher than the range
A high C-peptide usually reflects insulin resistance, with the pancreas working overtime. Reduced kidney function raises it too, because the kidneys clear it.
What can help
Improving insulin sensitivity, through exercise, weight loss and fewer refined carbohydrates, lowers the demand on the pancreas and so brings C-peptide down.
Read it with
NoteGeneral educational illustration. Colours, sizes and movement are simplified. This is not a scan or a simulation of your body. General information, not personal medical advice: a doctor reads your own results with your history.
Know your C-peptide.
Measured in your health assessment and explained by the doctor who reviews your results.