How the body controls blood sugar — Health, 14–17 years
Your cells need glucose for energy, but too much or too little in the blood can cause trouble. Insulin and another hormone help keep the amount within a safe range.
A careful energy balance
After you digest carbohydrate, glucose enters your blood and can be used by cells. The pancreas releases insulin when glucose rises, helping cells take it in and helping the liver store some for later; another hormone releases stored glucose when the level falls.
Why control is needed
The body needs a steady supply of energy, not a sharp rise followed by a crash. This control system evolved because food is not always available and cells cannot work well when blood glucose stays far too high or low for long.
Following one meal
Imagine eating a meal containing 60 g of carbohydrate. First, digestion breaks much of it into glucose and the blood level rises. Next, the pancreas detects the rise and releases insulin. Then cells use glucose and the liver stores some, so the level moves back towards its usual range.
Sugar is not simply ‘bad’
A common mistake is to think that any glucose is harmful. That seems reasonable because high blood glucose can damage the body, but glucose is also the fuel many cells normally use. The important questions are amount, timing, the whole diet and how the body responds.
Where it matters
This idea helps explain diabetes, a condition in which insulin is missing, insufficient or less effective, so glucose regulation fails. It also explains why people with diabetes may measure glucose, plan meals or use prescribed insulin; their personal plan must come from a health professional.
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