Diabetes
Diabetes has become something of an epidemic in the way it is affecting human beings at an alarming large rate. Diabetes results from the mismanagement of blood sugar in the human body.
This mismanagement may be a result of many factors, which may be hereditary or environmental in nature. It has been found that the main culprit behind this mismanagement is hormone insulin. To understand the role of insulin, we need to understand more about human metabolic activity.
“Metabolism” is a term used for all of the physical and chemical activity that takes place inside the human body that requires or releases energy. Once food enters the human body, several processes become active. Large molecules of food are broken down into smaller molecules. Most of the carbohydrates in the food are converted into glucose.
This glucose is the source of energy for the body. Once glucose enters the bloodstream, it needs to be transported to muscles, cells, and other organs where it can be converted into energy. At this point in the chain, insulin becomes a major player as it is responsible for the movement of glucose to almost 70% of the body’s cells. Besides movement, insulin also plays a vital role in the conversion of glucose into glycogen, which is stored by the liver and muscle cells.
As the sugar level in the blood rises, insulin is released into the bloodstream. Beta cells residing in the islets of Langerhans (in the pancreas) are responsible for this release of insulin.