Insulin, Insulin Sensitivity and Diabetes

Published: Tue, 01/09/18

Hi

So, so far we've covered hormones cortisol, oestrogen, progesterone, click on the buttons below to ping back to them:

Hormones
Oestrogen
Cortisol & Adrenal Fatigue
 
Today, it's insulin's turn:

Insulin: a hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of Langerhans, which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood - Oxford Dictionary
Insulin is referred to by many as the 'fat storage' hormone and you can kind of see why with the following scenario:

Overnight and between meals, insulin levels in the blood stream are low and relatively constant.

These low levels of insulin allow the body to tap into its stored energy sources (namely glycogen and fat) and also to release sugar and other fuels from the liver.

This overnight and between-meal insulin is referred to as background or basal insulin.

When you haven’t eaten for a while, your blood sugar level will be somewhere around 2.3 mmol/L  (or 70 mg/dl).

So let's wake up (all rejuvenated and refreshed) and eat breakfast:
  1. Food is eaten, blood sugar levels rise - slower and lower if it the meal has a low Glycaemic Load (GL) and quicker and higher if the meal has a high GL.

  2. The pancreas releases a corresponding amount of insulin. The insulin molecules find insulin receptors on the muscle and liver cells to sit on, and like a key,  "unlock" the cell door to allow for the storage of glucose in the form of glycogen.

    - At this point, any excess glucose will be stored in the fat cells in the form of triglycerides in the fat cells to be used later.  We will be covering triglycerides in a future Cholesterol email!

  3. When the blood sugar levels have returned to normal, in a negative feedback fashion, insulin will stop being released .

    So, basically, that is what should happen. 

    However, as you know, in this day and age there a  few too many convenient,  "easy" calorie, refined, mostly packaged foods being eaten :

    Cue a fizzy drink (this include diet/zero too!) or a nice white bread jam sandwich, most granolas labeled "healthy",  a bowl of french fries, a lovely  blueberry muffin from Cost-a-lot, (or my beloved Lindt chocolate!) being gobbled up.  You'd most probably feel quite good at first- you're getting food and plenty of fuel in the system! The reward centre in your brain is being stimulated so dopamine and serotonin is flowing and for a while you have plenty of energy.  But an hour or two later (or a few more for some)  a crash is likely to follow as a result of insulin overshooting.
  4. The quicker and higher your blood sugar is raised, the more insulin is released, the lower your blood sugar will fall  and the more likely you'll be to reach for something to provide energy quickly again and the cycle will continue.
  5. So, imagine this scenario happening day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year! Soon enough,  those tiny insulin receptors on the cells will stop listening - a bit like when kids are constantly being told to tidy up - sooner or later they stop listening or engage in 'selective hearing'.

    This is called "Insulin Resistance" and looks something like this:

Image
You can see how some of the receptors have died off  and as a result the blood sugar  is high which leads to the pancreas having to release more insulin.

This can be seen by the docs when you have a blood test.

Some people can have a very in-depth test which would actually look at the degree of insulin resistance there is. 

Perhaps they would be offered Metformin to help boost insulin sensitivity of the cells - and  they would most definitely be urged to have a look at their diet and do some exercise...

To cut a long story short, if nothing is done in this scenario then diabetes type 2 can develop, where the pancreas has basically become exhausted and does not release insulin anymore so people need to inject the insulin.

The sad truth is, diabetes type 2 is becoming more and more common as a cause of death and  health complications associated with nerve damage and circulation problems  e.g. kidney problems, blindness and ulcers. What's really sad is that that children as young as 8 are being diagnosed with diabetes type 2. Mental.

As recently as 20 years ago, type 2 diabetes was not observed to occur in children. In fact, it was once referred to as “adult-onset diabetes” and type 1 diabetes was called “juvenile diabetes.”  

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the insulin producing cells are destroyed by the body. Nobody knows the exact cause but, it is common to happen in early teenage years and may be triggered by a viral or other infection.

Type 2 diabetes affected children have a lack of exercise, and excess weight, hence adult-onset diabetes was renamed “type 2 diabetes" - well and truly a lifestyle disease that is fully preventable.

Let's finish today with a few facts about diabetes - keeping in mind that 90% of the figures below are about diabetes type 2.

According to Diabetes UK (2014):
  • It is estimated that more than one in 16 people in the UK has diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed).
  • Diagnosed stands at  3.3 million people By 2025, it is estimated that five million people will have diabetes in the UK.
                This is equivalent to:
  • more than 400 people every day being diagnosed, that's over 17 people every hour or around three people every ten minutes.

  • It is estimated that there are around 590,000 people in the UK who have diabetes but have not been diagnosed (2014).

  • Type 2 diabetes is more than 6 times more common in people of South Asian descent and up to three times more common among people of African and African-Caribbean origin.

  • Diabetes type 2, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high hip:waist ratio, obesity are all interlinked. Once an individual has one of these markers for cardiovascular disease, the chances of getting another is increased substantially.

Next time we'll be looking at ways to increase our insulin sensitivity. 

This is one of, if not the most important thing you can do for your health and is should not be missed.

Kim
Kim Chandler
Nutritional Therapist
07875 163901
www.eatwellandworkout.com
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