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IDDT United States

Action Times of Human and Animal insulins

This chart shows the relative activity curves of ‘human’ and animal insulin. This is the information that the American Diabetes Association provide. It must be noted that these times of peak activity and duration are general and will vary from person to person. Beef insulin is longer acting with a smoother action than pork insulin.

Insulin type	Onset	Peak [hours]	Effective duration[hours]	Maximum duration [hours]
ANIMAL
Regular [soluble]	0.5- 2 hours	3- 4	4- 6	6- 8
NPH [isophane]	4- 6 hours	8- 14	16- 20	20- 24
Lente	4- 6 hours	8- 14	16- 20	20- 24
Ultralente	8- 14 hours	Minimal	24- 36	24- 36

‘HUMAN’
Regular [soluble]	0.5- 1 hour	2- 3	3- 6	6- 10
NPH [Isophane]	2- 4 hours	4- 10	10- 16	14- 18
Lente	3- 4 hours	4- 12	12- 18	16- 20
Ultralente	6- 10 hours	-	18- 20	20- 24

Note: Multi-dose insulin regimes only appeared as a form of treatment after the introduction of ‘human’ insulin. Prior to this many people had controlled their diabetes well using twice daily mixtures of soluble and isophane animal insulin because of the longer duration of action of animal insulins. The shorter duration of ‘human’ insulin does not give as good basal 24hour cover as animal insulin and therefore more doses of short-acting ‘human’ insulin are necessary.