Slide 1
Insulin helps coordinate glucose uptake and storage
Glucose in the blood is an important fuel. Insulin helps coordinate how tissues take up and store it after its supply changes.
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Insulin is made by beta cells in the pancreas. The hormone’s role connects nutrient absorption with tissue use, rather than simply removing an unwanted substance from circulation.
Slide 2
Muscle, fat and liver respond in different ways
Muscle, fat and liver respond to insulin in different ways. Together these responses help keep blood glucose within a regulated range.
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The liver can store glucose and also release it between meals. Blood glucose therefore reflects internal production as well as the amount recently absorbed from food.
Slide 3
Resistance can prompt the pancreas to produce more insulin
Insulin resistance means tissues respond less effectively to insulin. The pancreas may initially compensate by producing more of the hormone.
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Compensation can keep glucose from rising for a time. This explains why the amount of circulating insulin and the concentration of glucose are different pieces of information.
Slide 4
Diabetes involves inadequate control through different mechanisms
Diabetes develops when regulation cannot keep blood glucose adequately controlled. Different forms involve different combinations of insulin supply and tissue response.
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In type 1 diabetes, immune damage destroys insulin-producing cells. Type 2 usually involves insulin resistance together with inadequate compensation; the two labels should not be collapsed into one mechanism.
Slide 5
One meal or measurement cannot explain the whole system
Blood glucose regulation changes with activity, illness and other conditions. Its behavior cannot be explained by one food or one measurement alone.
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Clinical tests use defined sampling conditions or measures that reflect longer periods. This physiology explains the questions those tests address without setting an individual diagnosis or treatment plan.
Sources
- Insulin Resistance & Prediabetes
NIDDK, NIH
- What Is Diabetes?
NIDDK, NIH