DIABETES MELLITUS: Starvation in the Midst of Plenty
Diabtes Mellitus is a disease that is characterized by excess sugar in blood due to either lack of insulin in blood, or the insulin in blood does not function well.
In normal condition, the food that we eat is digested and the carbodrates are converted in glucose in thedigestive tract and absorded into blood. Blood carries the absorbed glucose to different body organs and tissues and finally into the cells. In the cells, the glucose is further broken to generate energy.
The movement of glucose from the blood is controlled by insulin, a special hormones produced by an organ called pancreas. The amount of glucose allowed into the cells ia determined by level of glucose already present in the cell. Whwn the level of glucose in the cell is very low, more insulin will be released to facilitate the movement of large amount of glucose into the cells, thereby reducing the amount of glucose in the blood. On the other hand, if the cells already have enough glucose, and the person still eat food, very little of the glucose produced and absorbed into blood will be allowed into the cells by insulin. this implies that the left over glucose in blood will be high. some organs, especially the liver and muscles, pick up most of the left over glucose in blood and repackage and store it for future use, in the form of glycogen.
For insulin to convey glucose from blood into the cell, it must first hang to some special hooks on the cell called receptors. Without these receptors insulin cannot deliver glucose into the cell.
In diadetes, either insulin is absent, or the receptors are faulty. Hence the process of removing glucose from yhe blood into the cell is faulty or non functional. The implication is that the glucose produced from eating food accumulates in blood to excess level. Meanwhile, the cells are starved of glucose for energy generation. This is atypical case of starvation in the midst of plenty!
TO BE CONTINUED