You have probably heard about insulin on numerous occasions, especially in relation to people with diabetes, that is, people in whom their body does not have the ability to regulate blood sugar levels and are dependent on insulin. In summary form and as if to provide a brief overview, we must say that insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that plays an essential role in the metabolic process. But the main question around it is, what is it for, why is it so important, what functions does it perform, what it does and is responsible for, etc. And all these questions are what we will try to answer throughout this post, so we invite you to continue reading because we are going to tell you what insulin is for.
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What is Insulin?
As we mentioned an omentum ago, it is a hormone and as such it is essential for the body, because it is the one that helps to use the energy from the food that is incorporated into the body, because it is the possibility that glucose can enter the cells of the body. This is how it allows the body to have the energy it needs to perform many vital tasks, including from walking to thinking.
A moment ago we said that this hormone is produced in the pancreas, which means that our body naturally produces it. In this, it is produced in what is called islets of langerhans, and from here we can understand where its name comes from, since insulin derives from a term in Latin, insulae, whose meaning is island.
The role played by this gland, that is, the pancreas, directly related to the functioning of the body as a whole. This gland is found in the abdomen and around it we can find the stomach, spleen, liver, gallbladder and small intestine.
To be more specific regarding the structure of this hormone, we must say that insulin is an over-chain of hormonal peptides and that is how we find 51 amino acids in each molecule of it.
What is Insulin for?
There are many functions that insulin fulfills in the body and in this lies the importance that it has.
In this sense, it helps muscle and liver cells to use and store glycogen. In addition, it does not allow the fat found in the stored cells to be used, since when insulin is lacking in the body, it will take the fat cells to transform them into energy.
In turn, this is the hormone responsible for regulating various body systems and also fatty acids: By all this we understand the importance that insulin has for all types of activity carried out by the body, that is, in the activity of get up, drink a coffee or eat, insulin is present. But there are more specific functions of insulin, which we will tell you below.
For one thing, it helps the body’s cells use glucose for energy.
Without a doubt, it is one of its most important functions, because what makes it possible for the body’s cells to use glucose to transform it into energy. This means that when there is a high level of sugar in the blood, the pancreas will react by increasing the production of insulin. This will be even greater when we consume foods with a high caloric and energetic content, such as white flour, sweets, etc.
The way insulin works is open, since what allows the body’s cells to open so that glucose enters it and then they transform it into energy.
What is more, in those people who do not suffer from diabetes, insulin is continuously secreted from the food ingested and the needs of each organism, making glucose can be converted into energy or stored for those cases in which that there is an excess of sugar in the blood.
Another of the functions of insulin has to do with collaborating in the formation of muscles. You probably do not know that this hormone serves to heal or heal muscles, since this is one of the functions that is less talked about.
In these cases, what insulin does is carry amino acids -which is the essential material for the formation of muscles- to the muscles that, due to an accident or surgery, for example, were affected. In this way, it helps to repair muscle damage and helps them to regain their strength and size.
We should not understand that the functions of insulin have reached this point, since it fulfills other important functions.
In this way, it has a stimulating effect so that glycogen is synthesized, which is an energy reserve polysaccharide that is stored in the liver organs and the body acts on it, degrading it into glucose so that it can be made available in this way in the liver. energy metabolism, especially in those cases where we are hungry or very stressed.
Insulin also works by promoting glycolysis, that is, the metabolic function that is responsible for oxidizing glucose so that energy can be obtained in the cells.
In turn, it stimulates the retention of sodium in the liver, the transport of glucose in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, and the reuptake of potassium and amino acids.
Lastly, it helps to reduce the glucosecretion that occurs in the liver organ.
What happens when insulin is low?
In those cases in which insulin is not working properly or is released in very low amounts or the body cannot use it correctly, this causes sugar to begin to accumulate in the blood in a dangerous way, and this can reach to trigger the chronic type disease that we all know around insulin, namely diabetes.
We must differentiate two types of diatebes.
On the one hand, type 1 diabetes , which appears in childhood, adolescence or youth, which occurs when the body cannot produce insulin in sufficient quantities or in the correct form. Treatment in this case is insulin injections to regulate sugar levels in the body.
On the other hand, there is type 2 diabetes, which is the one that occurs in adults and is the most common form of this disease. What happens in this case is that although the body does produce insulin, the cells do not respond adequately to it and this causes the production of this hormone in the pancreas to increase, which in turn causes excess sugar to accumulate in the pancreas. blood. This condition is called insulin resistance, and in cases where it is detected early, just by implementing profound changes in habits, the progression to chronic diabetes can be avoided.
Dr. Samantha Robson ( CRN: 0510146-5) is a nutritionist and website content reviewer related to her area of expertise. With a postgraduate degree in Nutrition from The University of Arizona, she is a specialist in Sports Nutrition from Oxford University and is also a member of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.