International Units To Units (i.e. for Insulin)????

[TheCommish]

Is there an ACTUAL formula to convery IU (International Units) to Units (U)? Such as with a person who takes Insulin. If they take 10 Units is that also considered IU's? and with any other injectable Drugs or IV Medications that are measured in UNITS, are actually being measured in International Units (IU's)? Thanks

[Knight]

Is there an ACTUAL formula to convery IU (International Units) to Units (U)? Such as with a person who takes Insulin. If they take 10 Units is that also considered IU's? and with any other injectable Drugs or IV Medications that are measured in UNITS, are actually being measured in International Units (IU's)? Thanks

IU's are perhaps the most confusing "Standard" ever created.

An international unit (IU) is an internationally accepted amount of a substance. This type of measure is used for the fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D and E) and certain hormones, enzymes, and biologicals (such as vaccines).

The definition of an international unit (IU) is generally arbitrary, technical, and eminently forgettable. For example, an IU of vitamin E is the specific biological activity of 0.671 milligrams of d-alpha-tocopherol. Nonetheless, most IUs are quite handy and helpful in use as a means of standardizing measures, even though the measure only applys to that substance.

In your case, an IU of insulin has no relationship whatsoever to an IU of vitamin E.

All international units are officially defined by the International Conference for Unification of Formulae

[new guy]

That piece of information is good, but still doesn't answer the Commish's question (which also happens to be mine). Is U = IU, or is there a way to convert one to the other? eg. is ALT: 40 U/ml = ALT: 40 IU/ml. I don't think the Commish was trying to compare insulin to vitamins :)