Showing posts with label Health-Diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health-Diabetes. Show all posts

How to Activate Damaged Beta Cell in Pancreas to Produce Insulin? - Diabetes 21

Thursday, February 27, 2020
Beta cell in pancreas (credit to frontiers)

We talked about role of beta cells in pancreas to produce insulin at previous posts (Why Pancreas of Type 2 Diabetic Persons Produce Less Insulin? - Diabetes 3 | Tanza Erlambang Update) 

and 


Partial damages of beta cells lead to reduce insulin production, but insulin production may be totally stop due to severely degeneration of cells.

The question then: Can we activate beta cells to produce insulin? And how?

Some researches said: yes, we can fix damaged beta cells, especially due to certain toxic agents.

At least two methods to make beta cells to regain their functions:
- diets
- fasting



Illustration of insulin production in beta cell
(credit to TheDiabetesCouncil)

Some diets from herbs are believed to potentially to activate beta cells to produce insulin. These leaves contain corosolic acid to increase insulin production.

The leaves are:
- cinnamon, natural or supplement forms
- tea (green tea)
- banaba leaves, Lagerstroemia speciosa.

Fasting could help fix destroyed or half damage of beta cells, thus pancreas re-starts to produce insulin to manage blood sugar level.

In addition, insulin sensitivity can be improve by intermittent fasting, we have discussed at previous posts:



Lipid metabolisms and Insulin Effect – Diabetes 20

Thursday, February 13, 2020
Illustration of lipid metabolims (credit to 123RF).

We talked about carbohydrate metabolism in the previous post (Effect of Insulin on Metabolic Rate - Diabetes 19 | Tanza Erlambang Update). This post will discuss little bit about Lipid metabolism.

You might forget what lipid is. Yes, it is organic compound: fatty acid and all of its derivatives.

In daily life, examples of lipid may include:
- cooking oil (natural oils)
- waxes (substance which produced by bees to construct honeycomb as an example)
- steroids (material to form hormone, vitamin D and bile salts in the body).

Lipid metabolism is important, because its to breakdown the lipid into cells (smaller chain fatty acids).

These smaller fat cells either stored (source of energy) or synthesize (for specific use). It is crucial to have synthesis process, where fats are constructed to be cell membranes (plasma membranes).


Source of Lipid in daily life (credit to SlideServe)

What hormones regulate lipid metabolism? 3 key hormones are:
- insulin
- leptin
- adiponectin

Insulin affects on both carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. In respect to lipid metabolism, insulin help synthesis process, include glycogen synthesis.

In the liver, insulin could stimulate glycogen synthesis. Two goals of this kind of synthesis:
- manage blood glucose level
- provide energy need

Thus, we may understand the relationship between lipid metabolism and insulin, then relationship to diabetes.

Lower insulin production causes lower lipid metabolism rate, then increase blood glucose level, or the process is vice versa. 

Effect of Insulin on Metabolic Rate - Diabetes 19

Thursday, January 30, 2020
Insulin action on carbohydrate metabolism (credit to basicmedicalkey)

It is fact that no different between diabetes patients and normal people in term of body metabolism (rate).

So, what is the different? Diabetes patients produce less insulin and the insulin is less effective, hence reduce metabolism.

Metabolism which relate to insulin effectiveness are:
- Carbohydrate metabolisms
- Lipid metabolisms

We talk about carbohydrate metabolism in this post. Insulin drive the rate of carbohydrate (glucose) metabolism differently in the various tissues, cells or organs.

Three important tissues or cells or organ are following:
1) Adipose tissue and muscle
2) Liver
3) Blood


Relationship between insulin resistance to
adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and the liver
(credit to Claria, J et al, 2011)

Insulin bring the glucose to enter into the adipose tissue and muscle. In case, low or no insulin, there is useless or no glucose transportation. Insulin causes cells to be able to take insulin efficiently.

Abundance of glucose in the blood could be stored in the liver by helping from insulin. The process called as glycogen synthesis.

Insulin able to decrease blood glucose level. Biologically, when glucose level decrease in the blood, pancreas stop insulin secretion.

Finally, without insulin, two things will happen:
- since cells not able to absorb glucose, they use fatty acids as alternative source of energy
- Neurons will use glucose from glycogen which stored in the liver 

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