During November we will discuss the pancreas which is part of the endocrine and digestive body system. Why is this important? The pancreas has both digestive and hormonal functions. In this blog article we will cover the following –
- The pancreas anatomy and functions
- The role and medical conditions of the pancreas
- Diabetes
- Insulin resistance
- Natural health tips for pancreatic health
The Pancreas - Anatomy and Functions
The pancreas is an elongated, tapered organ located across the back of the abdomen, behind the stomach.
The right side of the organ is called the head. It is the widest part of the organ. It lies in the curve of the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine.
The tapered left side extends slightly upward. It is called the body of the pancreas. It ends near the spleen, called the tail.
The pancreas is made up of 2 types of glands –
Exocrine. The exocrine gland secretes digestive enzymes. These enzymes are secreted into a network of ducts that join the main pancreatic duct. It runs the length of the pancreas.
Endocrine. The endocrine gland consists of the islets of Langerhans. It secretes hormones into the blood.
Functions of the pancreas
The pancreas has digestive and hormonal functions –
The enzymes secreted by the exocrine gland in the pancreas help break down carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and acids in the duodenum. These enzymes go down the pancreatic duct into the bile duct in an inactive form. When they go into the duodenum, they are activated. The exocrine tissue also secretes a bicarbonate. It neutralizes stomach acid in the duodenum.
The main hormones secreted by the endocrine gland in the pancreas are insulin and glucagon. They control the level of glucose in the blood, and somatostatin, which prevents the release of the other hormones.
The Digestive Process - What Is the Role of Your Pancreas in Digestion?
Your pancreas plays a big role in digestion. It is located inside your belly (abdomen), just behind your stomach.
It is about the size of your hand. During digestion, your pancreas makes pancreatic juices called enzymes. These enzymes break down sugars, fats, proteins, and starches. Your pancreas also helps your digestive system by making hormones.
These are chemical messengers that travel through your blood. Pancreatic hormones help regulate your blood sugar levels and appetite, stimulate stomach acids, and tell your stomach when to empty.
Pancreatic Enzymes
Your pancreas creates natural juices called pancreatic enzymes to break down foods. These juices travel through your pancreas by tubes called ducts. They empty into the upper part of your small intestine called the duodenum. Each day, your pancreas makes about 8 ounces of digestive juice filled with enzymes.
These are the different enzymes –
Lipase. This enzyme works together with bile, which your liver produces, to break down fat in your diet. If you don’t have enough lipase, your body will have trouble absorbing fat and the important fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). Symptoms of poor fat absorption include diarrhea and fatty bowel movements.
Protease. This enzyme breaks down proteins in your diet. It also helps protect you from germs that may live in your intestines, such as certain bacteria and yeast. Undigested proteins can cause allergic reactions in some people.
Amylase. This enzyme helps break down starches into sugar, which your body can use for energy. If you don’t have enough amylase, you may get diarrhea from undigested carbohydrates.
Pancreatic Hormones
Many groups of cells make hormones inside your pancreas. Unlike enzymes that are released into your digestive system, hormones are released into your blood. They carry messages to other parts of your digestive system. Pancreatic hormones include –
Insulin. This hormone is made in cells of the pancreas known as beta cells. Beta cells make up about 75% of pancreatic hormone cells. Insulin is the hormone that helps your body use sugar for energy. Without enough insulin, your sugar levels rise in your blood and you develop diabetes.
Glucagon. Alpha cells make up about 20% of the cells in your pancreas that make hormones. They make glucagon. If your blood sugar gets too low, glucagon helps raise it by sending a message to your liver to release stored sugar.
Gastrin and amylin. Gastrin is mainly made in the G cells in your stomach, but some is made in the pancreas It stimulates your stomach to make gastric acid. Amylin is made in beta cells and helps control appetite and stomach emptying.
Common pancreatic problems and digestion
Diabetes, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer are 3 common problems that affect the pancreas.
Here is how they can affect digestion –
Diabetes. If your pancreatic beta cells don’t make enough insulin or your body can’t use the insulin your pancreas makes, you can develop diabetes. Diabetes can cause gastroparesis. This means the digestive system works more slowly than it should. Diabetes also affects what happens after digestion. If you don’t have enough insulin and you eat a meal high in carbohydrates, your sugar can go up and cause symptoms such as hunger and weight loss. Over the long term, it can lead to heart and kidney disease, among other problems.
Pancreatitis. Pancreatitis happens when the pancreas becomes inflamed. It is often very painful. In pancreatitis, the digestive enzymes your pancreas make attack your pancreas and cause severe abdominal pain. The main cause of acute pancreatitis is gallstones blocking the common bile duct. Too much alcohol can cause acute pancreatitis and pancreatitis that does not clear up. This is known as chronic pancreatitis. Pancreatitis affects digestion because enzymes are not available. This leads to diarrhea, weight loss, and malnutrition. About 90% of the pancreas must stop working to cause these symptoms.
Pancreatic cancer. About 19 out of 20 pancreatic cancers begin in the cells that make enzymes for digestion. Not having enough pancreatic enzymes for normal digestion is very common in pancreatic cancer. Symptoms can include weight loss, loss of appetite, indigestion, and fatty stools.
Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease that causes high blood sugar. Your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t effectively use the insulin it makes.
The hormone insulin moves sugar from the blood into your cells to be stored or used for energy. If this malfunctions, you may have diabetes.
Untreated high blood sugar from diabetes can damage your nerves, eyes, kidneys, and other organs. But educating yourself about diabetes and taking steps to prevent or manage it can help you protect your health
Types of Diabetes
There are a few different types of diabetes –
Type 1
This type is an autoimmune disease. The immune system attacks and destroys cells in the pancreas, where insulin is made. It’s unclear what causes this attack.
Type 2
This occurs when your body becomes resistant to insulin, and sugar builds up in your blood. It’s the most common type—about 90% to 95% of people living with diabetes have type 2.
Type 1.5
This is also known as latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). It occurs during adulthood and sets in gradually like type 2 diabetes. LADA is an autoimmune disease that cannot be treated by diet or lifestyle.
Gestational
This is high blood sugar during pregnancy. Insulin-blocking hormones produced by the placenta cause this type of diabetes.
Symptoms of Diabetes
The symptoms of type 1, type 2, and type 1.5 (LADA) are the same, but they occur in a shorter period than types 2 and 1.5. In type 2, the onset tends to be slower. Tingling nerves and slow-healing sores are more common in type 2.
Left untreated, type 1, in particular, can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis. This is when there is a dangerous level of ketones in the body. It’s less common in other types of diabetes, but still possible.
The general symptoms of diabetes include –
- increased hunger
- increased thirst
- weight loss
- frequent urination
- blurry vision
- extreme fatigue
- sores that don’t heal
Symptoms in men
In addition to the general symptoms of diabetes, men with diabetes may have –
- A decreased sex drive
- Erectile dysfunction
- Poor muscle strength
Symptoms in women
Women with diabetes can have symptoms such as –
- Vaginal dryness
- Urinary tract infections
- Yeast infections
- Dry, itchy skin
Gestational
Most people who develop gestational diabetes don’t have any symptoms. Healthcare professionals often detect the condition during a routine blood sugar test or oral glucose tolerance test, which is usually performed between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy.
In rare cases, a person with gestational diabetes will also experience increased thirst or urination.
What is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin, a hormone made by your pancreas that helps manage your blood glucose (blood sugar). Sometimes, insulin resistance is a short-term condition. But if left untreated for a long time, it could turn into diabetes.
Your body’s main source of fuel is glucose, which it gets by breaking down the food you eat. Once glucose enters your bloodstream, insulin helps it get into your cells, where it’s either used or stored for later. That signals your pancreas to stop making insulin.
But if you have insulin resistance, this process doesn’t work well. Your cells aren’t letting glucose in when insulin “asks” them to. As a result, more and more blood glucose piles up in your bloodstream. And your pancreas keeps making insulin.
For a while, your pancreas may be able to make so much extra insulin that your cells open up and let in glucose the way they’re supposed to. That will keep your blood sugar within a normal range. But over time, your cells may become more insulin resistant and your blood glucose levels could keep rising.
Insulin resistance vs. diabetes
Insulin resistance and diabetes are related but not the same.
If you have insulin resistance, your blood sugar is still within a normal range.
Prediabetes usually happens to people who have some insulin resistance. Your blood sugar is higher than normal, but still not high enough for diabetes.
Insulin resistance and prediabetes can both lead to type 2 diabetes. So much glucose stays in your bloodstream, you will need medication to treat it.
Insulin Resistance Symptoms
You cannot tell that you have insulin resistance by how you feel. You’ll need to get a blood test that checks your blood sugar levels.
Likewise, you won’t know if you have most of the other conditions that are part of insulin resistance syndrome (high blood pressure, low “good” cholesterol levels, and high triglycerides) without seeing your doctor.
Some signs of insulin resistance include –
- A waistline over 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women
- Blood pressure readings of 130/80 or higher
- A fasting glucose level over 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)
- A fasting triglyceride level over 150 mg/dL
- An HDL cholesterol level under 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women
- Skin tags
- Patches of dark, velvety skin under your arms or on your neck (acanthosis nigricans)
- Damage to tiny blood vessels in the backs of your eyes, which can lead to a condition called retinopathy
What Causes Insulin Resistance?
Experts still don’t fully understand what causes insulin resistance and prediabetes.
Things that can make this condition more likely include –
- Having excess weight, especially belly fat
- An inactive lifestyle
- A diet high in carbohydrates
- Having gestational diabetes
- Health conditions (like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease )
- A family history of diabetes
- Smoking
- Certain racial or ethnic backgrounds: You are more likely to become insulin resistant if you’re Black, Asian American, or Hispanic/Latino. Indigenous people from Alaska, the continental U.S., and the Pacific Islands are also at high risk.
- Age: It’s more likely after 45.
- Hormonal disorders like Cushing’s syndrome , acromegaly, and hypothyroidism
- Medications like steroids, some HIV treatments, and certain blood pressure medicines
- Inherited conditions including myotonic dystrophy and inherited lipodystrophy
- Sleep conditions like sleep apnea
Insulin resistance and PCOS
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects as many as 15% of people who are assigned female at birth (AFAB). It’s one of the most common causes of infertility.
If you have PCOS, you have higher-than-usual amounts of a hormone called androgen. This can make it hard for you to get pregnant. It also causes other symptoms, like acne and thinning hair. Most people with PCOS are also insulin resistant.
The link between insulin resistance and PCOS is still unclear, but it’s being studied. Your family history may play a part, since you’re more likely to have PCOS if your mother or sister has it or type 2 diabetes. Excess weight can also be a factor.
Natural Health Tips for Pancreatic Health
In this section we will cover –
- Best foods
- Key Supplements, Essential Oils and Natural Herbs
- Things to Avoid
- Biohacks to optimise
In Conclusion
Your pancreas is important for digesting food and managing your use of sugar for energy after digestion.
If you have any symptoms of pancreatic digestion problems, such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, fatty stools, or weight loss, call your healthcare provider like Balanced Healing.
If you have a family history of pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer, let your provider know.
References
Website – https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=pancreas-anatomy-and-functions
Website – https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes
Website – https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/insulin-resistance-syndrome
