Sugar Toxic: The Dirty Fuel that Impairs Brain Function and Makes Us Fat by Silverman Margit

Author:Silverman, Margit [Silverman, Margit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2015-04-21T16:00:00+00:00

Ch

apter 7

The Road to Ruin

Hypoglycemia, Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes

Disturbances in the nervous system which result in diminished rates of oxidation will be as productive of mental disorder as lack of oxygen alone.

- Dr. Juda Hersh Quastel, 1932

Up until this point, we’ve only just touched on the basic mechanics of glucose metabolism, and already the picture is looking grim where refined sugar is concerned. There are many aspects to this dark drama - with sugar in the starring role - all of which operate in concert to undermine health. For example, demands placed on the body for insulin output to cope with excessive sugar intake, and the corresponding onslaught of circulating glucose, conspire to wreak havoc with blood sugar profiles. Not uncommonly, the final outcome, as a consequence of metabolism being relentlessly overly taxed, culminates in what has been defined as the metabolic syndrome. Encompassed by the metabolic syndrome are hypoglycemia, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Hypoglycemia, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are three disorders that are strongly correlated with one another, as well as with the intake of refined sugars. In fact, research has demonstrated that the relationship between excess sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes is not just a correlational one, but also causal, and that these three disorders actually represent a progression from one to the other, culminating in diabetes.

Insulin

In order for the cells to take up glucose, there needs to be a facilitator to enable that to happen. Enter insulin, the hormone released by the pancreas to fill that role. When insulin binds to its receptor site at the cell membrane, it activates a process that ultimately allows glucose to enter the cell via the glucose transporter-4.

When all is going well, insulin is released in moderate amounts and blood glucose levels are maintained within normal parameters. Certain situations, however, precipitate an excessive release of insulin; referred to as hyperinsulinemia or hyperinsulinism.

Refined carbohydrates, such as soda pop, sweets or white bread, break down rapidly in the body to glucose. The body’s coping mechanism for the resulting deluge of incoming glucose, is to place increased demands on the pancreas to release large quantities of insulin. This excessive outpouring of insulin is, as always, an attempt by the body to restore homeostasis.

If the cell’s receptors are continually pummeled with massive influxes of glucose, the pancreas needs to compensate by pumping out ever greater amounts insulin to clear glucose from the bloodstream. There is, however, a limit to how long this can be sustained, and eventually the cells become insensitive to the effects of insulin. This is referred to as resistance to insulin-stimulated glucose uptake or simply, insulin resistance.

The pancreas has its limits as well and not surprisingly, it eventually becomes exhausted by the unrealistic demands placed on it by continual glucose deluges. Unable to sustain the insulin output required to accommodate increasingly insensitive cells, the body succumbs to diabetes.

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