[www.keralites.net] Role of insulin in diabetes and obesity-Dr. Jagannath Dixit MBBS MD. - Very good article.

 

Role of insulin in diabetes and obesity-Dr. Jagannath Dixit MBBS MD. 

Dr. Jagannath V Dixit - MBBS, MD

Professor and Head of Community Medicine Department at Government Medical College, Latur, Maharashtra

dedicated and devoted medical teacher, with more than 28 years of experience of teaching in medical colleges 

Insulin secretion

Insulin is a chemical substance scientifically termed as hormone from a gland called pancreas in your body. It is secreted in two different ways. One is called as baseline secretion; in which pancreas secrete 18 to 32 units of insulin throughout the day. This secretion cannot be stopped as it is essential for survival. The other method of insulin secretion depends on food intake. Every time you eat insulin is secreted. It is expected that out of your total insulin requirement, half should come as baseline secretion and half from secretion in response to eating episodes. Whatever you eat, insulin is secreted. It is documented that whether you take less food or more a similar amount of insulin is secreted every time. This we label as individual 'measure' of insulin which is person specific. It can be 2 units for one and 12 units for the other. Once insulin is secreted or your measure gets emptied, it takes 55 minutes to refill it. Hence if you eat up to 55 minutes, insulin will be secreted only once. If you continue eating more than 55 minutes, then for every 55 minutes slot you will secrete insulin.

Functions of insulin

Insulin is a conserving hormone which is responsible for energy storage and processes of synthesis in our body. Every time you eat insulin is secreted. It takes care of the end products of digestion of foods that you consume. Surprisingly, though you eat dozens of food items, the end products are only three: glucose from carbohydrates, amino acids from proteins and fatty acids from fats. On an average we need energy to the tune of 2000 calories per day. 1gm glucose/ 1 gm protein gives 4 calories and 1 gm fatty acids give 9 calories. The cells of the body can use glucose or fatty acids for energy. The trillions of cells in the body except cells from organ like brain are happy burning fatty acids. Brain cells have preference for glucose. Glucose from the blood can not directly enter the cells as there is a lock on each cell, technically called insulin receptor. For glucose to enter the cells, insulin must open the lock of insulin receptors. Then only cells can get glucose. Brain cells are again exception to this as they can directly take glucose from the blood. The first function of insulin is to allow the entry of glucose in cells. Cells then utilize glucose and perform their functions. If there is some more glucose in blood, it is converted to a substance called glycogen in liver and muscles under the influence of insulin. Generally an adult would have 100gm of glycogen reserve in liver. If there is still more glucose in blood, then 

insulin converts this into fatty acids and stores in body as fats! Insulin 

converts amino acids into useful proteins and also stores fatty acids as fats in body. Thus it is a conserving hormone responsible for synthesis in the body. Insulin acts a switch to shuffle between use of glucose or fatty acids by the body. If high, body uses glucose and if low, body uses fatty acids as fuel. This is called as day cycle and night cycle in physiology.

Effects of hyperinsulinemia

Raised level of insulin, technically called as 

hyperinsulinemia, is responsible for many 

deleterious effects on our body. There are thousands of 

research articles published in medical journals that document these effects. These include hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia and importantly insulin resistance. Insulin resistance then results into type 2 or maturity onset diabetes mellitus.

What happens if insulin level goes down?

When insulin level goes down then first glucose from blood is used by cells for energy. Then glycogen is broken down 

to get energy. Then your fats are used for energy purpose.

One must understand that to use

 fats for energy one has only one option and 

that is to reduce insulin level in the body. This 

can be done not by eating less 

but by eating less frequently!

http://adoretrust.org/eng/dr-jagannath-dixits-diabetes-reversal-and-effortless-weightloss-programme/

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Posted by: Ravi Narasimhan <ravi.narasimhan.in@gmail.com>

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