What is insulin? How does it work in the body? What roles do you play and what types? Are there things that can be done to improve its work and increase the body’s sensitivity to it?
Al -Jazeera clinic, Dr. Khaled Baghir, hosted a diabetes and endocrinologist at the Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar, which talked about insulin, its resistance and diabetes.
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What is insulin?
Insulin is a hormone produced by the body, and the hormone is a substance that is secreted by a specific gland in the body and moves to other places and performs different functions in it.
Insulin is a hormone secreted by a member called the pancreas, and it is a organ in the abdomen behind the stomach. Insulin is a hormone that has many functions in the body. The well -known is that it maintains the level of sugar in the blood within the normal levels, and it also builds the different tissues in the body.
Insulin is a key that opens the cells to benefit from the sugar in the blood as an energy source. What increases sugar is stored in the liver in the form of a glycogen. It also builds the fatty tissue, and an increase in fat occurs. It works with muscle tissue in building muscle, as it is a hormone that is involved in building all tissues in the body in its normal level.
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When does insulin use a treatment?
Insulin uses a treatment when insulin production in the body is not sufficient to perform its own functions. The first basic function is to maintain blood sugar level. When the body is unable to produce enough insulin, we will need to use external insulin as a treatment.
Insulin has been discovered about a hundred years ago, and insulin deficiency means diabetes, and in general there are two types of disease: the first type and the second type. The first type is an immune disease that results because the immune system attacked the cells that secrete insulin in the pancreas and eliminated them, so that there is not enough enough of it to perform the required functions.
The second type that comes from insulin resistance mainly so that the amount of insulin at the beginning is excessive, but over time it becomes insufficient to perform the required jobs, and also decreases as a result of the excessive effort required of the pancreas.
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What is meant by insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance occurs when insulin is at its normal level, but the cells do not respond to it and need more insulin until they respond, meaning that this key does not work.
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What are the reasons for insulin resistance?
There are two major insulin -resistants, the genetic genetic factor and lifestyle. The genetic worker cannot control it, as some people have more hereditary preparedness than others.
As for the lifestyle, it can be controlled and makes a big difference. Problems begin when the lifestyle is unhealthy, which is associated with insulin resistance and the problems related to it. It is a syndrome in which a person suffers from several symptoms.
When a person begins to improve his lifestyle, he begins to reflect insulin, and thus delay or prevent complications associated with them.
- What are the bad lifestyles that encourage the appearance of insulin resistance?
One of the factors is the weight factor and the presence of excessive fats in the body in the places of the original, in which there is no fat, for example, the fatty liver. As the accumulation of fat leads to insulin resistance.
Also factors are not exercising, eating processed foods, increasing starches in eating, and increasing saturated fat.
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What are the bad starches?
There are complex carbohydrates such as rice, and there are bad starchs such as sugary sweets, juices and processed sweets. These starches raise the sugar significantly, and require that the body secrete insulin in a large amount, and insulin resistance and weight gain gets over time.
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Is rice a good source of starches?
Everything is good with limits, rice is a good source of starches, but that does not mean that we eat a large amount of it. The same applies to fat, olive oil is useful, but it should not be excessive. The appropriate amount of rice is equal to the fist of a lady’s hand.
When a person prepares a layer, half of the vegetables, a quarter of starches, and a quarter of protein should be.
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What types of insulin when using a treatment?
Insulin is always found naturally in the body, and its secretion is increased from the pancreas when the sugar begins to rise after eating until it is inserted into the cells, and the excess is stored in the liver. We imitate the body in that we have a long -acting insulin so that sugar in the blood remains under control at a time when there is no eating, and there is a fast -acting insulin that we use when eating.
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How do you specify the type that suits the patient’s condition?
According to the diabetes that he suffers from, if he suffers from diabetes of the first type, there is almost no insulin in the blood and needs the two types mainly. If he suffers from type 2 diabetes, it depends on the stage the patient is going through.
We advise people that there be a periodic follow -up after the age of thirty or in some countries after the age of 35 years, and we start a periodic follow -up annually or every three years and an analysis is done to know the level of sugar whether it is normal or not. If it is diagnosed early, it may only only need long insulin, but over time we may need to add insulin before meals.
There is an evolution in the insulin industry, for example, long insulin in effect, there are types of which the patient needs to take twice a day, after which types are used once a day. Recently, a type to be taken once a week appeared.
Also, the rapid act of it has types, and it works quickly and disappears quickly as it happens in the body naturally. Its types differ in the speed and completion of work, for example, there is a type that works on average 3-4 hours.
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Are there symptoms of insulin resistance?
In insulin resistance, the cells of the body are not responding to insulin at its normal levels. Initially, the body deals with the problem with increased insulin secretion, and there may be no clear symptoms for a person because the body is still able to deal with this problem. But of course there is an increase in weight that is the cause and as a result of insulin resistance, it is a closed circle.
Symptoms can be unclear at first, but then become clear like weight gain or fatty liver, and the level of blood sugar begins to rise from its normal levels, and it has not been diabetic after (it is in the pre -diabetes stage). After that, the patient may develop diabetes.
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What are the complications of insulin resistance?
Insulin denominated is a syndrome that begins with weight gain and patient infection with fatty liver, and includes high blood pressure and the occurrence of inflammation in the body, where substances that harm the body are secreted, all of this in the end may affect vital organs of the body such as the heart, arteries and kidneys. Arterial stiffness may occur and the heart muscle may fail.
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How many kilograms a person needs to lose to get rid of insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance and treatment can be prevented if it occurs. The genetic factor cannot be influenced, but lifestyle can be controlled by losing weight, and the person begins to feel improvement in sugar and cholesterol levels when 7% of its weight reduces. The higher the weight, the more the patient will benefit.
The patient must follow a healthy diet and suitable in terms of quantities, as well as sports and movement, and it is preferable for a person to move every half an hour, if this movement was half a minute or a minute.
In addition to that sleep (6-8 hours) and at the early night. And lack of adherence to these matters helps in gaining weight because it places the body under pressure and tension.
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What is the insulin pump and when it is recommended?
The insulin pump is a device, an example of the effect of technological development on our lives, and it is simply a way to give insulin. Historically, patients used needles and then pens, and now the pump.
The pump is filled with insulin and is connected to the body directly or indirectly, there is a type of pump without any tubes sticking to the body on the skin, and there is a type that comes in the form of tubes that are connected to under the skin where insulin is injected, and there is a small sensor that measures sugar and sends signals to the pump until insulin is delivered.
There are types among them: the first type was programmed by the doctor until fixed doses during the day are secreted according to the body’s need, and during eating the person enters the amount of starches that he took. There is an automatic type that behaves as an artificial pancreas.
The pump is used for people who need insulin greatly in their lives, some patients are sufficient for the pen and do not need such pump, but the pump is an appropriate option for those with type 1 diabetes and some patients with the second advanced type who need insulin during the day.
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A final word for viewers
We must maintain a healthy lifestyle in food and movement to avoid weight gain, thus avoiding insulin resistance and double it, it is a syndrome, every problem in which the other is drawn, and we must cut this circle that begins with weight gain.