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Insulin And Carbs Metabolism

by — Last updated: 2023-03-27 in Lymphatic & Endocrine system

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We always hear or read about carbs metabolism and insulin and how this is altered in diabetic patients, but do we actually know what is happening? Here, you will be able to understand how carbs metabolism functions and why insulin is so important for it.

Insulin is a hormone produced by our pancreas and its main function is the regulation of the levels of glucose present in our blood.

How does insulin work?

In a healthy person, the pancreas releases insulin whenever glucose levels in the bloodstream rise up, situation that occurs after every meal.

Insulin then tells the cells that there is glucose available for either usage or storage.
The liver and muscles store glucose in the form of glycogen, which can be transformed back into glucose and released into the bloodstream to keep glucose levels in the normal range.

When this system doesn't work, glucose metabolism is affected and the general balance of the body is completely altered.

Not enough insulin: Type I diabetes

In patients with type I diabetes, low levels of insulin as a consequence of pancreatic damage or inherited malfunctioning, prevent the cells from taking glucose from the bloodstream.

Because no glucose can enter the cells, they need to use an alternate source of energy to keep functioning. Ketones then come into stage.

Ketones are also produced by the liver and can be used instead of glucose; however, the rise in ketones levels can lead to ketoacidosis, a serious complication that can cause death.

This is why type I diabetics cannot rely on the emergency mechanisms of the body to compensate for the lack of glucose inside the cells, so they need to inject insulin in order to keep the cells fully charged with glucose.

Type I diabetes is considered to be mainly a genetic disease, although there could be environmental causes to it, also. 

Defective insulin: Type II diabetes

Type II diabetes is a whole different story. Even when it also has to do with a disruption in the insulin signaling, it is mainly caused by a reduced effectiveness of this hormone to activate the glucose intake from the blood stream into the cells.

This lack of response from the body to insulin is what is known as insulin resistance.  
Since glucose levels start to increase because there is no insulin response, the body thinks that more insulin needs to be produced by the pancreas and released into the bloodstream. This chronic extra demand on the insulin producing cells of the pancreas, called beta cells, can cause them to wear out.

See Also: Insulin Pump for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

At this stage, type II diabetics may also need to inject insulin to make up for the one that can’t be produced due to the lack of healthy pancreatic cells. 
It is hard to determine the exact cause of insulin resistance in diabetes type II. It is actually considered a multifactorial disease, meaning that there are many factors that contribute to its development.  One of this factors is related to obesity and overweight and people's lifestyle in general. 

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