The two-compartment minimal model (2CMM) interpretation of a labeled intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) is a powerful tool to assess glucose metabolism in a single individual. It has been reported that a derived 2CMM parameter describing the proportional effect of glucose on insulin-independent glucose disposal can take physiologically unplausible negative values. In addition, precision of 2CMM parameter estimates is sometimes not satisfactory. Here we resolve the above issues by presenting an improved version of 2CMM that relies on a new assumption on the constant component R(d0) of insulin-independent glucose disposal. Here R(d0) is not fixed to 1 mg x kg(-1) x min(-1) but instead is expressed as a fraction of steady-state glucose disposal. The new 2CMM is identified on the same stable labeled IVGTT data base on which the original 2CMM was formulated. A more reliable insulin-independent glucose disposal portrait is obtained while that of insulin action remains unchanged. The new 2CMM also improves the precision with which model parameters and metabolic indexes are estimated.