Lesson 4
How Blood Glucose Stays Steady
Follow the two-hormone loop that holds blood glucose steady, and tell free sugars from total sugars on a label.
Builds on
A level kept in a narrow band
Every meal with starch or sugar in it sends glucose into your blood. Your brain and muscles run on that glucose, but your blood holds only a very small amount of it at any moment. So your body keeps the level within a narrow band: high enough to feed every cell, low enough not to harm them.
Two hormones from the pancreas, a gland tucked behind your stomach, do the work. Insulin signals “store it”: muscle and the liver pack glucose away as glycogen, a compact chain of glucose. Glucagon signals “release it”. Before reading how they take turns, try putting a meal’s journey in order.