What happens when the body lacks insulin?

Insulin is a hormone that helps control blood sugar and the body's metabolism - the process of turning food into energy. Accordingly, when a lack of insulin in the blood occurs, the process of creating energy is affected, the body is easily exhausted.

The pancreas makes insulin and releases this hormone into the bloodstream. Insulin helps the body use sugar for the energy it needs and then stores the rest.
Practically speaking, after eating, the small intestine breaks down carbohydrates from food into glucose, a simple sugar. Glucose will enter the bloodstream, causing blood sugar to rise rapidly.
At this point, the body makes and releases insulin in a feedback loop based on blood sugar. Specifically, high blood sugar stimulates clusters of special cells, called beta cells, in the pancreas to release insulin. The more glucose there is in the blood, the more insulin the pancreas will secrete.
The role of insulin is to help move glucose into cells. Cells use glucose for energy. In addition, the body also needs to store any extra sugar in the liver, muscle, and fat cells. As a result, as glucose moves into the cells, blood sugar levels return to normal.
Conversely, low blood sugar prompts another group of cells in the pancreas to secrete another hormone called glucagon. Glucagon causes the liver to break down stored sugar, called glycogen, and release it into your bloodstream. Insulin and glucagon alternately release them throughout the day to keep blood sugar stable.

The action of insulin, a hormone secreted mainly by the beta cells of the pancreas, leads to biochemical changes in almost every tissue in the body, which helps in the absorption of glucose by the tissues and the synthesis of glycogen in the body. liver and muscle. In addition, by inhibiting lipase, insulin also limits the release of free fatty acids from adipose tissue and increases protein synthesis by inducing amino acid transport into cells.
The extensive biochemical effects of insulin lead to equally major physiological abnormalities in insulin deficiency. The reduced entry of glucose into peripheral tissues and the increased release of glucose from the liver lead to hyperglycemia, which in turn leads to a number of physiological consequences. Elevated blood glucose levels due to insulin deficiency lead to an excess of filtered glucose beyond the kidney's ability to reabsorb. Unabsorbed glucose acts as an osmotic diuretic in the urine, leading to a decrease in extracellular fluid volume and consequent hypotension, as well as a decrease in total body sodium and potassium.

In addition, the insulin:glucagon ratio also has a role in reducing the stimulation of protein and fat catabolism, which can lead to increased production and decreased clearance of VLDL leading to hypertriglyceridemia, as well as increased by-product acetyl CoA. Excess acetyl CoA in the body due to fat breakdown leads to the formation of ketone bodies acetoacetate and b-hydroxybutyrate in the liver. The body may buffer some hydrogen ions during the ketoacidosis, but metabolic acidosis still develops, leading to increased ventilation as a compensatory mechanism. Potassium is displaced out of cells in the setting of hyperglycemia and acidosis, and therefore normal or even elevated serum potassium levels are often observed, despite total body depletion.
Although insulin deficiency will mainly lead to serious acute complications, there are also chronic consequences commonly seen in patients with poorly controlled long-term diabetes. Increased glucose concentrations lead to protein glycosylation and, consequently, enhanced glycosylation end products that bind to receptors present in endothelial cell macrophages.
On the other hand, chronic hyperglycemia can also lead to abnormal stimulation of signaling cascades. The resulting microvascular and macrovascular arrangement leads to complications such as diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, and atherosclerosis.

Diabetes is a group of diseases that cause high blood sugar (glucose) levels. High blood sugar levels are caused by problems in the production of insulin that cause a lack of insulin in the blood or impaired insulin function.
Thus, an excessive increase in blood glucose levels when there is a lack of insulin in the blood can lead to unpleasant symptoms, such as:
Constant thirst. Increased urine output. Excessive hunger. Unintentional or unexplained weight loss. Fatigue or lack of energy. Irritability. Blurred vision. Wounds heal slower than usual. Recurrent or frequent infections

In fact, there are two main types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes develops when the body does not make any insulin, an absolute lack of insulin in the blood. Because of its early onset, the disease is often diagnosed in childhood but can remain latent in life.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin, causes a relative lack of insulin in the blood, or does not use insulin properly. This disease is more common in adults but the number of children with type 2 diabetes is increasing gradually due to bad lifestyle habits
Both types of diabetes cause the accumulation of glucose in the blood. This can lead to serious health problems, including:
Vision loss. Kidney damage. Skin problems. Deaf. Heart-related diseaes. Heart attack . Blood vessel blockage. Expenses section.

Most of these complications can be prevented with early screening and stable treatment. Accordingly, a long-term diabetes treatment plan often involves monitoring blood glucose levels, following a healthy diet, and taking medication.
Many of these drugs work by raising the body's insulin levels through stimulation of pancreatic beta cells, which help deliver blood glucose to the cells to convert into energy to function.
In short, insulin is an important component of energy metabolism in each cell. Therefore, lack of insulin in the blood will cause many effects on vital activities and even metabolic diseases. In particular, diabetes, high blood sugar as one of the consequences of insulin deficiency, if not well controlled, will cause many dangerous complications to personal health.

Reference source: healthline.com; openanesthesia.org; khanacademy.org.