strength comparable between insulins?

[Les]

Does anyone know if the strength of certain types insulins are comparable? For example: I think Regular and Humalog are of the same strength; the difference lies in the fact that Regular acts slower (and peaks differently), than Humalog. Along that same line: is NPH (isophane) the same strength as UltraLente, the 'only' difference being that NPH has different onset, peak, and duration than UL? But if one takes the same amount of units of NPH as they did of UL, they are, in effect, 'cramming' the effect of that same number of units into a smaller timeframe when using the NPH, as opposed to the UL, where it would have been 'strung out' over a longer time period and had a more gradual (altho longer?) peak action (and probably a later onset, with the UL)
Does anyone know how Lantus (glargine) and Levemir (detemir) stack up in this strength line up? I have read that Levemir is considered quite a bit weaker than Lantus, but how do both of them compare, in overall strength, to the other medium-and long acting insulins? Les

[Funnygrl]

You are right in your thinking. One unit of insulin will lower your bs the same ammount no matter what type of insulin it is. The difference lies simply in the fact that some do it quicker than others.

[Les]

Is this comparison true only for insulins that are made in a similar fashion (e.g., it would be true only for the synthetic human insulins, but not in comparing the 'human' insulins to the animal insulins (I have read where, with animal insulins, one frequently has to take abt 20% more than when on the human insulins) - and also, one could not say this was true when comparing a human insulin to an analogue? or comparing Lantus to Levemir, because they are made in different ways?)?
And is bioavailability of insulin a separate issue from strength? Or is this figured into the comparison of strength, when comparing insulins? (say, that a certain number of units of UL and NPH are equal in strength, just strung out over different time frames - but if UL has a different bioavailability than NPH - and I don't know if it does or not - but if it did, then that in effect would affect its 'strength', because the body would be absorbing more, or less, of the UL than of the NPH-?) Les