How Insulin Affects Blood Sugar

To understand how diabetes develops, we have to look at some basic physiology.

Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas, which is located in the center of the stomach. The function of insulin is to help transmit sugar from the blood into cells to produce energy.

When you eat a meal, the digestion process immediately begins with chewing. The food is then swallowed and moves to the stomach where it is exposed to a very acidic environment to break it down into nutrient components such as protein, fats, amino acids, and sugar.

That sugar (as well as the other components) then passes to the intestines where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. That’s why eating increases blood sugar.

The pancreas responds to the elevation of blood sugar by releasing insulin to help sugar pass into cells, thus maintaining a healthy blood sugar level.

High blood sugar levels are toxic to many cells in the body, including nerve and cardiovascular cells. Such levels of blood sugar can lead to chronic diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s as well as cardiovascular problems such as heart disease.

If everything is working correctly, after eating food adequate amounts of insulin are released from the pancreas and the glucose in the blood is taken up by cells. As the glucose level in the blood decreases, insulin also falls, and the signal to eat again is sent out in order to provide a new source of glucose to start the whole process over again.