What types of insulin are there?

As you might already know, there are quite a few different types of insulin that can be used by people with type 1 diabetes and they all have slightly different actions. This means your diabetes care team can choose the best type of insulin for you.  

To get the best blood glucose control, the treatment of type 1 diabetes with insulin should try to mimic the body’s natural insulin production. Insulin is naturally produced at low levels 24/7 with an extra boost of insulin at mealtimes in proportion to the amount of carbohydrate (starch and sugar) in the food or drink.

Most people with type 1 diabetes will either:

Take a combination of long-acting insulin once or twice a day (known as background or basal insulin), alongside short-acting insulin at mealtimes (known as bolus insulin).

OR

Take insulin administered through an insulin pump, with different speeds of insulin delivery to mimic the body’s natural production. 

Common short-acting insulin

Short-acting insulin is usually taken before meals, has its peak action around 1 – 2 hours after injecting, and should be taken 15 minutes before eating. This includes:

• Apidra (Glulisine)
• Humalog (Lispro)
• Humulin S (Soluble)
• Novorapid (Aspart)
• Fiasp* (Aspart)

*Fiasp (insulin aspart) should be administered immediately before eating.

Common long-acting insulin

Long-acting insulin usually lasts for around 16–30 hours and is taken once or twice a day. This includes:

• Lantus (Glargine)
• Abasaglar (Basaglar)
• Humulin I (Isophane)
• Levemir (Detemir)
• Degludec (Tresiba)

Mixed insulin

On some occasions, people may take mixed insulin which contains both short-acting and long-acting insulin. This is usually taken twice daily but tends not to control blood glucose levels as well as a basal-bolus regime, which mimics the action of a pancreas better. Mixed insulins include:

• Humalog Mix25
• Humulin M3
• Novomix 30

Click on the next topic for more information on insulin action profiles.