Hormones, sugar, and your cells
When you eat, some of your food is broken down into sugar (also called glucose). Sugar travels in your blood to all your body’s cells. Insulin helps sugar move from your blood into your cells. Insulin is a hormone that is made by the beta cells in your pancreas.
Your cells need sugar for energy. Sugar from food makes your blood sugar level go up. Insulin lowers your blood sugar level by helping sugar move from your blood into your cells.
When you eat, another hormone made in the gut helps the pancreas release the right amount of insulin to move sugar from the blood into the cells. This hormone is called GLP-1. It stimulates the beta cells in the pancreas to release insulin when the blood sugar is too high. It also helps to lower the amount of sugar made by the liver.
There is also a third hormone called glucagon that tells the liver to release stored sugar if your blood sugar gets too low or if you have not eaten for many hours, such as overnight.
What happens in diabetes?
When you have diabetes:
As a result, sugar can’t get into your cells. So it stays in your blood. That’s why your blood sugar gets too high (also called hyperglycemia).
There are four ways doctors can tell if you have diabetes:
1. Your A1C is 6.5% or higher
2. Your fasting blood sugar level is 126 mg/dL or higher. Fasting blood sugar levels means no food for at least 8 hours prior to checking your blood sugar
3. The result of your oral glucose tolerance test is 200 mg/dL or higher
4. You have symptoms of high or low blood sugar, and a blood test taken at a random time shows a blood sugar level of 200 mg/dL or higher
“We are not alone. We are part of a family where there are others in the same boat. So let’s row together. That way, we will get there together.”