The Pancreas

The pancreas is located in the middle of the abdomen. It’s surrounded by the stomach, small intestine, liver and spleen. It’s about six inches long and shaped like a thin pear, wide at one end. It has three sections: wider right end is the head, the middle is the body and the left end is the tail.

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.

When the blood sugar levels aren’t normal, it’s a disease called diabetes. Diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is a deficiency of the hormone insulin or the inhibition of its action with the cells. The insulin acts like a bridge between the glucose and the cells. In the US there are about 16 million people who suffer from diabetes. It is the seventh most common cause of all deaths. Diabetes is most common in Native American females over 45 years of age.

There are two main types of diabetes. The firsts is insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). In IDDM the body either doesn’t produce diabetes or produces very small amounts. The symptoms usually occur in teenagers under 20, usually around puberty. Untreated IDDM affects the metabolism of fat. Since the body can’t convert glucose into energy, it is broken down into fat and stored for energy. This also increases the amounts of ketone bodies in the blood, which interfere with respiration. The second type is called is non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). This is when the body doesn’t make enough insulin or is unable to use it. NIDDM is the most common of all diabetes; it makes up 90 to 95 percent of all cases. Scientists believe that in some people weight gain or obesity is what triggers their diabetes because 80 percent of people with diabetes are over weight.

Another problem people have with the pancreas is pancreatic cancer. Each year about 29,000 Americans and 3,000 Canadians are diagnosed with it.