Unit 3 - Sugar Control Flashcards
What is glucose
A type of sugar used to provide energy
Why is glucose so important
- Needed for cellular respiration, muscle contraction, nervous transaction
- If there was too much sugar; water would leave cells meaning they were non-functional (causes crenation) and vise versa (lysis)
Why does sugar need to be controlled
To avoid damage by osmosis
What affects glucose levels?
- What you eat eg if you eat sugary meal, goes straight into the blood
- Excercise - decreases because it’s being used by cells for respiration
Which two hormones are involved in controlling blood sugar levels?
Insulin and Glucagon
Which 2 organs are involved in control of blood sugar levels?
The Liver and the Pancreas
Explain what happens when glucose rises (when you eat food)
Insulin is produced by the pancreas which causes the liver to change glucose to glycogen
Explain what happens when blood glucose levels are too low (aka after excercise)
Glucagon is secreted by the pancreas and is turned into glucose
What is type 1 diabetes?
A condition where the pancreas produces little or no insulin, meaning that a persons blood glucose can rise to a level that can kill them
Explain how type 1 diabetes can be controlled
- Liminting the intake of food rich in simple carbohydrates i.e sugars
- Regular excercise - this helps lower the blood glucose level
- Insulin therapy (injecting insulin) - people with type 1 often inject at mealtime, to make sure that glucose is removed from the blood quickly once food has been digested. (This stops the level of glucose in the blood from getting too high and is very effective)
What is type 2 diabetes?
Where the body doesn’t produce enough insulin
Symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes
- Excessive urinating
- Excessive thirst
- Weight loss
- Lethargy
- Blurred vision (due to dehydrated receptor cells)
Where did people used to get insulin from vs how they get it nowadays
Why is this good?
Insulin used to be extracted from the pancreases of pigs/cows, but it is now made by genetic engineering
The new insulin doesn’t cause adverse reactions like animal insulin did