The Japan Diabetes Society recommends the classification of glucose tolerance after 75-g oral glucose load and does not consider insulin secretion for diagnosis. We therefore evaluated insulin secretion against the plasma glucose level (PG) as a basal insulin by fasting the serum insulin level, the first phase after glucose loading by Delta IRI/Delta PG, and the total insulin level after glucose loading by Sigma IRI. 626 outpatients of our diabetic clinic were eligible for analysis from 1992 to 1997. They were administered 75-g OGTT and measured with both plasma glucose and serum insulin concentration before and at 30, 60 and 120 min after glucose loading. The fasting insulin level had no correlation with fasting plasma glucose, and the basal level was prevented from increasing fasting plasma glucose levels from 70 to 300 mg/dl. Delta IRI/Delta PG seemed to decrease at around 140 mg/dl of the fasting glucose level. Sigma IRI seemed to decrease at around 200 mg/dl of the 2-h plasma glucose level in OGTT. In conclusion, the Japan Diabetes Society's recommendation of the plasma glucose level was supported by the dynamic insulin secretion on OGTT.