Question

All are true about meglitinides except?

• A. Decreases postprandial hyperglycemia
• B. Incidence of hypoglycemia is less common than sulfonylureas
• C. It decreases insulin resistance
• D. Causes stimulation of insulin release from pancreas

Hint:

Are meglitinides insulin secretagogues or insulin sensitizers?

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Meglitinides such as repaglinide and nateglinide belong to the insulin secretagogue group rather than the insulin sensitiser group, and this distinction is the heart of the question. They bind a site on the beta-cell ATP-sensitive potassium channel, close it, depolarise the cell and provoke insulin release, which makes the statement about stimulating pancreatic insulin secretion correct. Their pharmacokinetics are deliberately brief: taken just before eating, they produce a quick, short burst of insulin that targets the after-meal glucose rise, so the claim about reducing postprandial hyperglycaemia holds, and that same short duration keeps insulin from lingering between meals, giving them a lower interprandial hypoglycaemia risk than the longer-acting sulfonylureas. What they do NOT do is alter tissue responsiveness to insulin; lowering insulin resistance is the hallmark of metformin and the thiazolidinediones, not of secretagogues. Hence the false statement, and the answer to this except-type question, is that meglitinides decrease insulin resistance.\[\boxed{\text{It decreases insulin resistance}}\]