Insulin and glucagon are secreted by the pancreas to regulate your blood sugar levels.
If the level of secretion is higher or lower than the typical range, this causes your blood sugar level to spike or drop, which is not a good thing.
Glucagon and insulin work together to maintain homeostasis for your blood sugar level to remain steady
after consumption of carbohydrates.
How does insulin work?
Cells need glucose for energy. But without insulin, your cells will be unable to use glucose.
Insulin is a chemical that gives glucose access to the cells, and if your blood sugar levels drop, that is where glucagon comes in to signal the liver to convert glycogen to glucose and regulate the blood sugar.
In addition, insulin also supports healing of wounds and injuries, and that is why diabetics take so long to
recover from injuries because of the low production or overflow of insulin.
How does glucagon work?
During periods of low blood sugar, the liver stores glucose to power the cells.
Poor nutrition and skipping meals is a primary cause of low blood sugar.
But by storing glucose, the liver works as a backup generator to regulate the blood sugar when you are
sleeping or when you are skipping meals.
When blood glucose from the liver fails, glucagon is secreted by the pancreas as another backup chemical to regulate your blood sugar levels.
From there, the insulin will attach to its receptors and ensure that the cells are able to absorb glucose.
When someone is diabetic, the pancreas might be able to produce glucagon.
However, without enough insulin, the cells will not be able to absorb glucose, which causes the symptoms of type 2 diabetes.
Understanding how the organs and chemicals work is your first step to preventing diabetes.
