What Is Glucose?

Glucose comes from the Greek word meaning 'sweet'. It is a type of sugar that you get from food and your body uses it for energy. As it travels through your bloodstream to your cells, it is called blood sugar or blood glucose.

Insulin is a hormone that moves glucose from the blood to your cells for energy and storage. People with diabetes have higher than-normal levels of glucose in their blood. Either they don't have enough insulin to get it through, or their cells don't respond properly to insulin.

Prolonged high blood sugar can damage your kidneys, eyes, and other organs.

How your body makes glucose?

It comes mainly from foods rich in carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes, and fruit. When you eat, the food travels down your esophagus and into your stomach. There, acids and enzymes break it down into small pieces. During this process, glucose is released.

It enters your intestines and is absorbed there. From there, it enters your bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, insulin helps the glucose reach your cells.

 Glucose

Energy and Storage

Your body aims to keep the level of glucose in your bloodstream constant. The beta cells in your pancreas monitor your blood glucose levels every few seconds. When your blood sugar rises after eating, the beta cells release insulin into your bloodstream. Insulin acts like a key that unlocks muscle, fat, and liver cells and lets glucose into them.

Most cells in your body use glucose, as well as amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and fat, for energy. But it is the brain's main source of fuel. The nerve cells and chemical messengers there need it to help them process information. Without it, your brain would not be able to work properly.

After your body has used up all the energy it needs, the remaining glucose is stored in the liver and muscles in small bundles called glycogen. Your body can store enough energy to last you for about a day.

After a few hours of not eating, your blood sugar level drops. Your pancreas stops producing insulin. The alpha cells in your pancreas start to produce a different hormone called glucagon. It signals the liver to break down stored glycogen and convert it into glucose.

It goes into your bloodstream to replenish your supply until you can eat again. Your liver can also use a combination of waste products, amino acids and fats to make its own glucose.

Blood sugar levels and diabetes

Blood sugar levels usually rise after eating. After a few hours, it drops as insulin transfers glucose to your cells. Between meals, your blood sugar should be below 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). This is called your fasting blood glucose level.

There are two types of diabetes.

In type 1 diabetes, your body does not have enough insulin. The immune system attacks and destroys the cells of the pancreas that make insulin.

In type 2 diabetes, the cells don't respond to insulin as well as they should. So the pancreas needs to make more and more insulin to transfer glucose into the cells. Eventually, the pancreas becomes damaged and cannot produce enough insulin to meet the body's needs.

Without enough insulin, glucose cannot enter the cells. Blood glucose levels remain high. A level of more than 200 mg/dl 2 hours after a meal or more than 125 mg/dl on a fast is high blood sugar and is called hyperglycemia.