Merios
TyG index — insulin resistance

The triglyceride-glucose index uses two numbers that are already on your standard panel — no separate insulin draw required.

Free interactive tool

TyG Index Calculator

Enter triglycerides and fasting glucose from the same fasting blood draw. Both appear on a standard lipid and metabolic panel, so you almost certainly already have them.

Lowunder 8.0
Average8.0–8.5
Elevated8.5–9.0
Highabove 9.0

Educational tool, not a diagnosis. TyG cutoffs are population-derived and vary between studies and ethnic groups — there is no single agreed threshold. Read your number as a position on a gradient and as a trend over time, not as a pass/fail line. Both inputs must come from the same fasting draw.

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Why this exists

The standard way to estimate insulin resistance is HOMA-IR, and it is a good measure — but it needs a fasting insulin result, which is rarely included on a routine panel and usually has to be requested specifically. Most people never have it.

The TyG index was developed to fill exactly that gap. It uses triglycerides and fasting glucose, two values that appear together on virtually every standard lipid and metabolic panel. If you have had blood work in the last year, you almost certainly already have both numbers — which means you can compute this today rather than after another draw.

How to read your number

TyG is a continuous marker, not a diagnosis. Reported cutoffs differ between studies and populations, and the value that matters most is your own trend across repeat panels. A number that climbs year over year is a more meaningful signal than a single reading sitting slightly above a published threshold.

Because both inputs move with diet and metabolic health, TyG responds to the same levers that move triglycerides and fasting glucose. If you want the fuller picture, pair it with HOMA-IR when you do have insulin, and with the triglyceride to HDL ratio.

The formula, written correctly

TyG = ln[(triglycerides × fasting glucose) / 2], with both values in mg/dL. The division by two sits inside the logarithm. This is worth stating plainly because it is the most common implementation error in circulating calculators, and it produces a number that looks plausible while being wrong.