Insulin

Insulin is a polypeptide hormone that regulates carbohydrate. It is produced by the pancreas. Apart from being the primary factor in carbohydrate homeostasis, it has effects on fat metabolism. It can change the liver's ability to release fat stores. Insulin's concentration has extremely widespread effects throughout the body.

After eat, the food is broken down into glucose, the simple sugar that is the main source of energy for the body's cells. But your cells cannot use glucose directly without insulin. Insulin helps the cells take in glucose and convert it to energy. When the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use the insulin that is present, the cells cannot use glucose. Excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes.

Being obese or overweight affects the way insulin works in your body. Extra fat tissue can make your body resistant to the action of insulin, but exercise helps insulin work well.

Insulin is used medically in some forms of diabetes mellitus. Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus depend on exogenous insulin (commonly injected subcutaneously) for their survival because of an absolute deficiency of the hormone; patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have either relatively low insulin production or insulin resistance or both, and a non-trivial fraction of type 2 diabetics eventually require insulin administration when other medications become inadequate in controlling blood glucose levels.