How does the body handle sugar normally?

Dearest Fellow Vincentians, As you sit and enjoy your coconut bread, (wish I had some now) we continue with the foundation of our understanding of Diabetes. This week we tackle the enormous topic of “how does my body handle sugar normally.”{{more}}

In all people without diabetes no matter your age, race, nationality or gender, this process is the same. The body is amazing, in that it keeps the range of blood sugar very tight, never going above 6.6 mMol. We have been fearfully and wonderfully made indeed.

There are many different players that come into action after you eat that coconut bread, but the most important is INSULIN. Take your finger and point to your navel: somewhere deep under there is an organ called the Pancreas. It is not very big and is shaped like a fish with a big head. This organ makes insulin, the main hormone responsible for taking care of sugar once it gets into your blood. Insulin determines which sugar gets turned into energy and what gets stored in your body as fat (yes, fat). It is insulin that keeps your blood sugar from going too high. For all of you without Diabetes, you can eat all the sweets you want (please do not try this) and your body will just crank out enough insulin to take care of it. Nice, eh?

Now in Diabetes, there is a problem with insulin: either you do not make any, or you do not make enough. Sometimes you have both problems. This is the major deciding point that helps your doctor decide if you need pills or insulin for your Diabetes. If you do not make ANY insulin, you have no choice but to take insulin. There is no medicine in the world that can make your pancreas start making insulin again after the cells have died. Now if you do not make enough, you may still be able to use pills because some of them can encourage the pancreas to make more Insulin, or just make your body respond better to the insulin you have. This is the basic situation underlying all Diabetes.

Before we go on, we need to talk about yam…and dasheen… and bread. Infact, many of our beloved foods like breadfruit, plantain, yam and anything that looks like it, sweet potato(you KNOW this one!),rice, bread of any kind, all potatoes, pasta, cookies, cakes, sweets—long list. What are all these things? They are all carbohydrates, starches, sugars of some kind. Keep them in mind because these are the main culprits that raise blood sugars in people with Diabetes. The food does not have to be actually sweet(dasheen certainly is not) to raise sugars. Remember that. Sorry to throw cold water on your goat cook this weekend…

Next time we will start going through some of the common beliefs about Diabetes. Until then, eat plenty fish and just a little breadfruit…

Later Vincies,

Anita Ramsetty, MD endodocs@endocrinehelp.com
Medical Director Endocrine Care Group
www.endocrinehelp.com