Testing conducted by Dr. Stuart Brink, Senior Endocrinologist, New England Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, was typical, showing excellent results in patients who received Humalog before and after meals. 1 Patients involved in the tests had no problems switching from Regular to Humalog, experienced no major change in their insulin dosages, had no excessive hypoglycemia and had no need to increase their background NPH or Ultralente insulins. The duration of the test was too short to determine if patients using Humalog experience lower HbA1c readings compared with patients using Regular. Anderson and Bastyr which stated that study data showed there was no increased risk of cardiac problems associated with the use of Humalog. At this time, Humalog is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in children over age 12.
Studies are ongoing to obtain approval in younger children.
Lilly advises that Humalog can be taken up to 15 minutes before eating, and makes no mention of taking Humalog after a meal. Testing, however, such as conducted by Dr. Brink, shows encouraging results for patients who take Humalog after meals. Humalog is a very fast acting insulin, nothing more. If your blood sugar control is good, as shown by good HbA1c readings, there is no need to switch to Humalog. The big advantage of Humalog is that it can provide greater flexibility in the timing of injections in relation to meals.