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OneTouch Reveal® Mobile App - Android™ – Insulin Types

Published 2025-07-31
Updated 2025-08-20
Products OT Reveal Mobile App

Insulin Types:
 

  • There are several different types of insulins. Each type is classified by three characteristics: onset, peak, and duration.

 

  • Short-acting insulins begin to lower glucose levels about 12 to 30 minutes after administration, reach their peak glucose-lowering effect about 1.5 to 2 hours after administration, and last between 1.5 and 6 hours.
    • Examples of short-acting insulins include the following:
  • insulin aspart
  • insulin glulisine
  • insulin lispro
  • human regular
  • inhaled insulin

 

  • Long-acting insulins start to lower glucose levels 2 to 6 hours after injection and continue to lower glucose levels for 18 to 24 hours, or even up to 42 hours. Most long-acting insulins don't have a pronounced peak in their action.
    • Examples of long-acting insulins include the following:
      • degludec
      • detemir
      • glargine
      • glargine U-300

 

  • NPH is an intermediate-acting insulin that generally starts to lower glucose levels about 2 to 4 hours after injection, reaches its peak glucose-lowering effect 4 to 12 hours after injection, and lasts for 12 to 18 hours.
    • An example of intermediate-acting includes the following:
      • NPH
  • Pre-mixed insulin is a mixture of an intermediate or long-acting insulin with one of the short-acting insulins in a fixed combination. It combines the actions and characteristics of both types of insulins.
  • Advantages include that it may allow for fewer daily insulin injections, there is no need to manually mix insulin types, and only one type of insulin must be purchased. 
  • The disadvantages are that Pre-mixed insulin should not be used for correction of high blood sugars, and the amounts of intermediate or long-acting and short-acting insulins cannot be individually adjusted. You can only take a higher dose of both types or a lower dose of both types, but not more or less of only one type.
    • Examples of Pre-mixed insulins include the following:
      • NPH insulin with regular insulin
      • NPH insulin with insulin lispro
      • NPH insulin with insulin aspart
      • Degludec insulin with insulin aspart
  • Insulin Characteristics:
    • ​​​​​​​Onset
      • The time it takes before the insulin begins to lower your glucose.
    • Peak time
      • The time it takes for the insulin to reach its maximum strength in terms of lowering your glucose.
    • Duration
      • How long the insulin continues to lower your glucose.
      • Refer to your healthcare professional and to the product information supplied by the manufacturer of your insulin for more detailed information about onset, peak, and duration of effect.
      • Note: Not all insulins are available in all countries, nor is this a comprehensive list of insulins available in all markets.

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