Post Time: 2025-07-18
Your pancreas plays a vital role in regulating blood sugar levels, and understanding its function is crucial for maintaining healthy glucose metabolism. The pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that facilitates the entry of glucose into cells, thereby lowering blood sugar levels. When you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into glucose, which then enters your bloodstream.
This increase in blood sugar triggers an insulin release from the pancreas to help facilitate cell uptake and maintain stable blood sugar levels. Conversely, when your blood sugar drops (e.g., during fasting or exercise), glucagon is released by the pancreas to stimulate glycogen breakdown in liver cells and promote glucose release into the bloodstream.
Blood Sugar Regulation: The Pancreas' Partner-in-Crime
The role of the thyroid gland cannot be overstated, particularly when it comes to regulating blood sugar levels. Often referred to as "the metabolic regulator," this endocrine organ plays a critical role in maintaining normal glucose metabolism through its effects on various physiological processes.
By stimulating insulin production and release from the pancreas, the thyroid ensures that your body can efficiently utilize glucose for energy production while minimizing unnecessary surges or drops in blood sugar. This finely tuned process is essential for preventing complications such as diabetic neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, and other long-term health consequences associated with abnormal glycemic control.
Achieving Glycemic Balance: The Pancreas' Role
As you strive to maintain optimal glycemic levels, it's crucial to recognize that your pancreas plays an integral part in this delicate process. As the primary producer of insulin – a hormone instrumental in glucose uptake and utilization by cells – this endocrine organ ensures that blood sugar peaks are kept under control.
When dietary carbohydrate intake is excessive or occurs too frequently throughout the day, there may be times when your body experiences periods where it has difficulty absorbing sufficient amounts of nutrients due to an over-reliance on readily available stored glycogen in muscle and liver cells.
In this video, Keith McAfee, MD discusses how the occurrence of active hypoglycemia in our body can relate to our faith. Look two hour blood sugar test out for a new video every Friday! For more about Dr. McAfee's background in medicine, visit his can sugar alcohols raise blood glucose website: www.keithmcafee.com Drawing from his experiences as a family practice physician for the past 30 breakfast for high blood sugar years, Dr. McAfee provides true and captivating stories from his career in medicine in his latest book, “Breathe: A Physician’s Stories and Reflections on Prayer”. Available now: Follow him on social media: Facebook: Twitter: