What does fact checked mean?
At Healthfully, we strive to deliver objective content that is accurate and up-to-date. Our team periodically reviews articles in order to ensure content quality. The sources cited below consist of evidence from peer-reviewed journals, prominent medical organizations, academic associations, and government data.
- The Journal of Clinical Investigation: Dynamics of Insulin Secretion and the Clinical Implications for Obesity and Diabetes
- The Journal of Clinical Investigation: Dynamics of Insulin Secretion and the Clinical Implications for Obesity and Diabetes
- International Journal of Endocrinology: A Twenty-First Century Cancer Epidemic Caused by Obesity -- The Involvement of Insulin, Diabetes and Insulin-like Growth Factors
- International Journal of Endocrinology: A Twenty-First Century Cancer Epidemic Caused by Obesity -- The Involvement of Insulin, Diabetes and Insulin-like Growth Factors
- World Journal of Gastroenterology: Diagnosis and Management of Insulinoma
- World Journal of Gastroenterology: Diagnosis and Management of Insulinoma
The information contained on this site is for informational purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for the advice of a professional health care provider. Please check with the appropriate physician regarding health questions and concerns. Although we strive to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, no guarantee to that effect is made.
How Does Insulin Lower Blood Sugar?
Everyone knows that glucose, or sugar, is needed to give the human body energy. That would not be possible without the intervention of the hormone insulin -- a protein produced by the pancreas that responds to sugar levels in the blood. Pancreatic cells take up blood sugar and secrete insulin into the bloodstream. The insulin allows other body organs -- including the brain, liver, heart and muscles -- to take up sugar to fuel their own energy requirements.
Hormone Production
Insulin is made and released by a type of cell in the pancreas known as a beta cell. This process is complex and occurs in response to changes in glucose concentration in the blood. Glucose concentration is affected by a person’s nutritional status, for example, if the person just ate a full meal or has been fasting for several hours. It is also influenced by hormones released by the intestines that are involved in the digestion of what has been eaten. Further, the brain releases factors into the blood based on its energy status and requirements.
- Insulin is made and released by a type of cell in the pancreas known as a beta cell.
- It is also influenced by hormones released by the intestines that are involved in the digestion of what has been eaten.
Food Breakdown
High Liver Enzymes & High Blood Sugar
Learn More
A cascade of events begins when a person has eaten something, for example, a piece of bread. Bread is rich in carbohydrates, which when broken down by digestion become the sugar glucose. Glucose is absorbed by the intestines into the bloodstream, raising the blood glucose level, and transported to the pancreatic beta cells. Here it is broken down further into energy known as ATP, and this causes insulin to be released into the blood. Insulin then interacts with the body’s cells and organs, prompting them to absorb glucose from the blood to make their own energy. For example, the heart muscle needs glucose to make energy to sustain its pumping action.
- A cascade of events begins when a person has eaten something, for example, a piece of bread.
- Insulin then interacts with the body’s cells and organs, prompting them to absorb glucose from the blood to make their own energy.
Decreasing Blood Sugar
This movement of glucose into the body's cells lowers the levels of sugar in the blood. As blood sugar levels drop, they no longer stimulate the pancreas and insulin secretion stops 2. This type of regulatory feedback is important, because if too much insulin is available, blood sugar drops dangerously low and can potentially lead to a person’s death. One possible reason for excess insulin production would be insulinomas, or insulin-producing tumors of the pancreas.
- This movement of glucose into the body's cells lowers the levels of sugar in the blood.
- This type of regulatory feedback is important, because if too much insulin is available, blood sugar drops dangerously low and can potentially lead to a person’s death.
A Careful Balance
Adrenal Glands and Diabetes
Learn More
Healthy adults produce about 33 units of insulin per day. Insulin is the only hormone available for reducing glucose concentration in the blood. The human body is in a constant state of balance between anabolism, the fed state involving insulin secretion and glucose uptake and storage, and catabolism, the fasting state. When fasting, the antagonists of insulin will cause storage sugar breakdown and release from the liver, thereby elevating blood sugar levels in times of energy need.
- Healthy adults produce about 33 units of insulin per day.
- When fasting, the antagonists of insulin will cause storage sugar breakdown and release from the liver, thereby elevating blood sugar levels in times of energy need.
Related Articles
References
- Update on General Medicine: Eric P. Purdy, MD, et.al.
- The Journal of Clinical Investigation: Dynamics of Insulin Secretion and the Clinical Implications for Obesity and Diabetes
- International Journal of Endocrinology: A Twenty-First Century Cancer Epidemic Caused by Obesity -- The Involvement of Insulin, Diabetes and Insulin-like Growth Factors
- World Journal of Gastroenterology: Diagnosis and Management of Insulinoma
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Insulin resistance and diabetes. Last reviewed August 12, 2019.
- Wilcox G. Insulin and insulin resistance. Clin Biochem Rev. 2005;26(2):19–39.
- Ritchie RH, Zerenturk EJ, Prakoso D, Calkin AC. Lipid metabolism and its implications for type 1 diabetes-associated cardiomyopathy. J Mol Endocrinol. 2017 May;58(4):R225-R240. doi:10.1530/JME-16-0249
- Volpi, E. and Dickinson, J.M. (2015). Protein metabolism in health and diabetes. In International Textbook of Diabetes Mellitus (eds R.A. DeFronzo, E. Ferrannini, P. Zimmet and K.G.M.M. Alberti). doi:10.1002/9781118387658.ch16
- Colorado State University. Pathophysiology of the Endocrine System. Physiologic effects of insulin.
- University of Berkley, California. Endocrine Pancreas.
Writer Bio
Bernadette Hromin has been a practicing ophthalmologist in the New York area for more than 10 years. Having a professional fluency in Spanish, she writes a blog which educates health care workers in the bilingual clinical environment. As an eye doctor, Bernadette is a stickler about eating one green vegetable daily.