Untangling the furtive behind Diabetes type 2 — Insulin & Insulin resistance
The main cause of Diabetes type 2
The main cause of type 2 diabetes is “insulin resistance” so what causes insulin resistance is the first question that should come in our mind? Diabetes remission which offers a promising future for diabetes patients closely relates to the factors that affect insulin. To untangle this furtive, we first need to understand what insulin is and what role it plays in our life?
Understanding Insulin…
Insulin which is a hormone shifts our body’s main source of food (blood glucose or blood sugar) from the blood into the cells. Without Insulin, sugar is left unchecked in the bloodstream which can cause many problems. Normally, whenever we eat something, our blood sugar goes up and as a result Insulin is released to do its job that is to transfer blood sugar into the cells or tissues to be used by the body. However, when there is insulin resistance, Insulin fails to function properly and it cannot move blood sugar into the cells, and as a result sugar level remains high in the blood. It is therefore crucial to understand what causes this Insulin resistance if we want to control type 2 diabetes?
Body storage system in Diabetes
It is equally important to understand the storage areas in our body system and how badly they are affected in diabetes. So, when we eat food, some of it will burn as calories and the extra food (glucose or blood sugar) is stored as short-term energy storage called ‘Glycogen’ which is stockpiled as carbohydrates in the liver. When the liver is saturated with glycogen then body adapts via another pathway and stores this additional blood glucose as fats which is a long-term energy storage. In normal healthy situations when body stores are not full, the extra glucose is stored and as a result the blood glucose levels fall which then do not stimulate the release of insulin. However, over time with diabetes, all storage areas are filled up and when a person eats food, (glucose or sugar) spills all over into the blood and this triggers the release of insulin and aggravates the vicious cycle.
The vicious cycle — insulin & insulin resistance
Dr. Jason Fung ( a Canadian nephrologist) & world-leading professional for managing people with type 2 diabetes explained the phenomenon very well. when there is more and more insulin, a real vicious cycle happens. So, the cycle is high insulin > insulin resistance > more insulin > more insulin resistance and so on. It is obvious that the increased level of insulin exacerbates this vicious cycle.
Key is to identify the factors that impact Insulin
It is therefore vital to identify factors that trigger the release of Insulin as well as things that decrease the level of Insulin to maximise the chances of going into diabetes remission — which is a healthy state.
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