Insulin: Unlocking the Sugar Secrets

1139 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Short notes on diabetes

Insulin In Demand
People often say: ”I have a low blood sugar and need to eat something.” This is attributed to insulin production. Common misconceptions may suggest that diabetics are the only victims that deal with insulin, when in fact all mammalians unknowingly deal with insulin production on a daily basis. Every form of glucose that the body takes in must be processed into a form that the body can use. One may think of insulin as a key that unlocks sugars (glucose). Without insulin, an accumulation of glucose builds up within the bloodstream, which inhibits energy production. Without insulin unlocking the sugars, the body is forced to find other energy sources; in laymen’s terms the body eats itself. In our current society, Type 2 Diabetes is becoming more prevalent. As obesity is on the rise, so is its positive correlation with Type 2 Diabetes. This condition, having been in the spotlight, has made way for more research about insulin, insulin production, and how to avoid this life-changing disease.
Insulin is a hormone that is produced within the pancreas. The pancreas contains three types of cells: α, β, and σ (Striegel, Hara, and Periwal 1). Alpha cells (α) produce a hormone called glucagon. Glucagon is the antidote of insulin, which means its function is not to decrease blood sugar levels, but to bring blood sugar levels back to normal. Beta Cells (β) secrete insulin. The delta cells (σ), which produce somatostatin, regulate both insulin and glucagon to stabilize the body’s energy amounts. According to Striegel, Hara and Periwal (2015), researchers from the Laboratory of Biological Modeling at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago, these types...

... middle of paper ...

... that kill beta cells. Cytokines are another type of receptor that controls the life cycle of cells; they signal to the nucleus of the cell when to commence apoptosis (cell death). In many cases of pre-diabetes cytokine responses were premature, and resulted in unneeded cell death. If this technique of protection of islets was used it could potentially be used to prevent Type 2 Diabetes (1-9).
Insulin is an essential hormone that is used in everyday life. Through its ability to unlock glucose (sugars) into a form the body can use, insulin is essential to convert energy, and to regulate it. There can be more research conducted to pinpoint exactly what causes diseases such as diabetes with the many tools that scientists have today. With new and coming methods of research, the future is hopeful not only to diabetics but also others with life threatening conditions.

Show More
Related

  • Type 1 Diabetes

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    The beta cells affect a person’s glucose regulations within the blood. This is because the beta cells are in charge of sending insulin arou...

    Read More

  • Why The Discovery of Insulin is a Defining Moment in Canadian History

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the year 1889, two researchers, Joseph Von Mering and Oskar Minkowski, discovered the disease that is known today as diabetes. Diabetes is a disease in which the insulin levels (a hormone produced in unique cells called the islets of Langerhans found in the pancreas) in the bloodstream are irregular and therefore affect the way the body uses sugars, as well as other nutrients. Up until the 1920’s, it was known that being diagnosed with diabetes was a death sentence which usually affected “children and adults under 30.” Those who were diagnosed were usually very hungry and thirsty, which are two of the symptoms associated with diabetes. However, no matter how much they ate, their bodies wouldn’t be able to use the nutrients due to the lack of insulin.

    Read More

  • Homeostasis Essay

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    Our body obtains the energy by digesting the carbohydrates into glucose. Volumes of glucose are required by the body to create ATP. ATP is short for 'Adenosine Triphosphate ' and is an energy carrier. When we consume too many carbohydrates our body produces a lot of glucose and as a result blood glucose levels rise and sometimes they may rise over the normal range of blood glucose concentration. To bring it back within the healthy range, the homeostatic system of blood glucose regulation is used. The blood flows through the pancreas where the beta cells, receptors, detect the high blood glucose level. To counteract this stimuli beta cells alert the control centre, which are also the beta cells located in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. The secretion of insulin has to be done quickly but can only be carried out when insulin gene is switched on. Turning on the insulin gene switch can take 30 minutes to an hour therefore, the production of insulin by beta cells are done in advance and are packaged in vesicles right until blood glucose rises. Glucose comes into the beta cell to trigger the vesicle that contains the insulin to move towards the plasma membrane and fuse. This releases the insulin into the bloodstream where they are distributed throughout the body and only affect specific target cells. The receptor, a protein, on the target cell’s plasma membrane recognises and connects

    Read More

  • Discovery Of Insulin In Canada

    1712 Words  | 4 Pages

    Insulin: a hormone made by the pancreas that allows your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for future use. Insulin helps keeps your blood sugar level from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). Before insulin Diabetes mellitus was a chronic disease that affected thousands of people in Canada and beyond. In the first half of the 20th century, medical professionals understood that diabetes mellitus involved the body’s inability to metabolize food, especially carbohydrates. “Insuline” was already in development as many medical professionals like Joseph Freiherr and Oscar Minkowski, isolated its properties before Banting had his ideas. As well Ancient Greek

    Read More

  • Energy Bars: Glycemia and Insulemia

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    Insulin is a hormone that is produced by specialized cells on the surface of the pancreas called pancreatic islets or Islets of Langerhans. It causes changes to occur in the plasma membrane of the cell that cause the cell to pull in glucose from the blood stream. The hormonal counterpart of insulin is glycogon, which serves to promote the rele...

    Read More

  • The Anatomy Of The Pancreas

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    The pancreas is composed of exocrine and endocrine tissues. The exocrine portion of the pancreas synthesizes and secretes pancreatic juices. The endocrine portion is composed of miniscule islands of cells, called the islets of Langerhans. These islets of Langerhans do not release their secretions into the pancreatic ducts. Instead, they release hormones into the blood stream, and these hormones in turn help control blood glucose levels (Function of the Pancreas). Beta cells of the islets of Langerhans secrete insulin, which

    Read More

  • Diabetes and Native Americans: A Cultural Epidemic

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    Diabetes is a disease in which a person’s body in unable to make or utilize insulin properly which affects blood sugar levels. Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas, which helps to regulate glucose (sugar) levels, break down carbohydrates and fats, and is essential to produce the body’s energy. The CDC (2013) offers reliable insight, summarized here, into the different types of diabetes, some causes, and health complications that may arise from the disease.

    Read More

  • Diabetes Mellitus

    2137 Words  | 5 Pages

    Diabetes refers to a set of several different diseases. It is a serious health problem throughout the world and fourth leading cause of death by disease in the country. All types of diabetes result in too much sugar, or glucos in the blood. To understand why this happens it would helpful if we understand how the body usually works. When we eat, our body breaks down the food into simpler forms such as glucose. The glucose goes into the bloodstream, where it then travels to all the cells in your body. The cells use the glucose for energy. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps move the glucose from bloodstream to the cells. The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus further explains the concept on how this disease works. Pancreas plays an important role of the metabolism of glucose by means of secreting the hormones insulin and glucagon. These hormones where then secreted by Islets of Langerhans directly to the blood. Inadequate secretion of insulin results on impaired metabolism of glucose, carbohydrates, proteins and fats which then result to hyperglycemia and glycosuria. Hyperglycemia is the most frequently observed sign of diabetes and is considered the etiologic source of diabetic complications both in the body and in the eye. On the other hand, glucagon is the hormone that opposes the act of insulin. It is secreted when blood glucose levels fall.

    Read More

  • Leading Causes of Diabetis

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    Insulin is a hormone in the body that is critical in many of the body’s functions. Insulin is a hormone made up of a small polypeptide protein that is secreted by the pancreas it affects carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolism. Your body breaks these nutrients down into sugar molecules, amino acid molecules, and lipid molecules. The body can also store and reassemble these molecules into more complex forms. Insulin causes the storage of these nutrients. After eating a meal blood sugars rise rapidly especially after eating carbohydrates, this signals the release of insulin. Insulin binds to insulin receptors on the outside of cells to open up channels for glucose to move into the cell for storage by the means of GLUT-4 inside the cell. With insulin resistance the pancreas has to work harder to make up for the insulin resistance but as the resistance gets worse the pancreas can not keep up and blood glucose levels stay elevated. A major way to prevent type II diabetes and high blood glucose is to improve a patient’s insulin sensitivity.

    Read More

  • Diabetes

    2261 Words  | 5 Pages

    In order for your cells to take in glucose, a hormone called insulin must be

    Read More

  • Diabetes Essay

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Glucose is a sugar that plays a big part in a human’s health and well-being. This sugar is a major source of energy for the body’s brain and cells. The Cells that receive energy from glucose help in the building of the body’s muscle and tissue. Although glucose may be important to the body too much of this sugar can cause a chronic condition called Diabetes. Diabetes, also known as Diabetes mellitus, is a chronic condition that is caused by too much sugar in the blood. This condition can affect all age groups. In fact, in 2010 a survey was taken by the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, on the number of newly diagnosed diabetes. Out of 1,907,000 people: 24.38% were ages 20-44, 55.17% were ages 45-64, and 20.45% were ages 65 and greater. Diabetes is a very serious condition, and it can be deadly if left untreated. This paper will help better educate the reader on the signs and symptoms, the testing process, and the management of diabetes.

    Read More

  • The History of Diabetes

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Insulin (originated from insula, a Latin word for island) is the internal secretion of the pancreas formed by the groups of cells called the islets of Langerhans which was discovered by a medical student in 1869 (Allen). This hormone is needed to enable glucose to enter the cells and provide energy. On the path to diabetes curing, in 1889, Oscar Minkowski took a dog’s pancreas out and days later, flies started to fest on its urine. Come to find out, there was sugar in the dog’s urine (Enerson). The discovery of this was amazing. Fast forward a decade or three, in 1922, Frederick Banting and Charles Best made the best discovery using insulin. During this time, preparations of insulin were taken from pigs and cattle (Allen). It was extracted from pancreas tissues crudely. Sadly, the pigs and cattle did not get out of this happy. Now it is made by genetic engineering which is the direct manipulation of an organism’s genome using biotechnology. So no one or nothing is being endangered (Allen). Lucky pigs!

    Read More

  • The Pancreas

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    The pancreas has two functions; to make enzymes that help digest fats and proteins and the other, to produce insulin that controls the blood sugar level called glucose. It consists of Islet cells (1 of 3 types), which are endocrine glands. This means the Islet cells secret the insulin directly into the blood stream. The pancreas contains many more of these Islet cells than the body needs to maintain a normal insulin level. Even when half of the pancreas is removed, the blood sugar level can still remain normal. The pancreas is also made up of exocrine glands, which produce enzymes for digestion.

    Read More

  • Glucose Homeostasis Essay

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    Blood glucose levels are the measurement of glucose in an individual’s blood. This is important because glucose is the body’s main source of fuel and the brains only source of fuel. Without energy from glucose the cells would die. Glucose homeostasis is primarily controlled in the liver, muscle, and fat where it stored as glycogen. The pancreas is also a significant organ that deals with glucose. The pancreas helps regulate blood glucose levels. Alpha-islet and beta-islet pancreatic cells measure blood glucose levels and they also regulate hormone release. Alpha cells produce glucagon and beta cells produce insulin. The body releases insulin in response to elevated blood glucose levels to allow the glucose inside of cells and

    Read More

  • Pancreas Essay

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    The pancreas uses these two hormones in order to monitor blood glucose levels. After a meal, blood glucose usually rises. This is when insulin secretion will start (Nussey S, Whitehead S. “Endocrinology: An Integrated Approach”). Consequently, blood glucose decrease to the normal range. This is how insulin maintains blood levels when is high. However, when blood level falls below normal range, glucagon comes into play. Low blood glucose occurs usually when hungry and during exercise. This will then triggers glucagon secretion. When blood level falls, the body goes into imbalance. Hence is why in order to maintain homeostasis glucagon is crucial. The body will tell the pancreas to increase more glucose and the pancreas will secrete glucagon by taking glycogen from the liver to produce glucose. The glucose will produce energy and will make blood glucose concentration increase (Homeostasis of Insulin and Glucose, Abpischools.org). When the pancreas cannot maintain homeostasis, many problems will arise in the body. When the pancreas fails to produce insulin, type 1 and 2 diabetes can occur. For those with type 1 diabetes, insulin injections will be needed in order to regulate blood glucose level, otherwise, glucose levels will be out of control. For type 2 diabetes, they are not insulin dependent like type 1, however, the body does not create enough in the body. When blood glucose

    Read More

More about Insulin: Unlocking the Sugar Secrets

Open Document