Monday, July 27, 2009

What is Diabetes (Blood Sugar)

By definition, when the level of glucose in the blood rises above a certain limit, this condition is known as diabetes. It affects the way of your body uses food for energy. The basic for the increasing sugar level could be either a decrease in the quantity of a hormone or a decreased efficacy in the working of hormone (insulin).

In order to understand the relation between Sugar (glucose) and hormone (insulin), it is essential to know the working of the body at cellular level.

Body Work at cellular level:

Digestion of food: How body works imageOur body is composed of millions and millions of cells. Our muscles are made of muscle cells, our livers of liver cells, and there are even very specialized types of cells that make the enamel for our teeth or the clear lenses in our eyes. Each cell is a complete unit in itself. A number of complex metabolic processes are taking place in these cells for which the required energy is produced by glucose. Anything we eat (carbohydrate) is transformed to glucose after absorption in the intestine. This glucose enters the blood and through the blood vessels is circulated all over the body. When we are in a fasting state, glucose comes from liver (Hepatic Glucose Output).

It means that even in a fasting state glucose is continuously reaching the blood through liver. As liver is known as the store house of glucose and in urgent situation when no food is available it helps in maintaining all the body functions by releasing glucose into the blood. Glucose then acts as a fuel for carrying out the various metabolic processes of the body. So it can be said that glucose is to our body what gas is to a car. Hence, whether we eat or are in a fasting state, glucose level in blood is maintained at all times.

Now the next step is that this glucose should enter the cells where it will be used as a source of energy by the cells to carry out the various metabolic processes.
GL UT4 - Door of body cellGL UT4 acts as a door of body cell. In basal state this door GLUT4 is closed. For glucose to enter the cells this door (GLUT 4) must be open. When this door opens, glucose enters the cells of the body and provides energy to the cells. The process of entry of glucose from blood into the cells is complex and is carried out by a hormone called insulin. Insulin opens the door on body cells and makes glucose entry in body cells possible which then provides energy to the cells. So in brief we can say that relationship between glucose and insulin lies in the fact that insulin opens the lock allowing glucose to enter inside the cells.

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