Would anyone be so kind as to: "Describe the mechanisms involved in maintaining blood glucose levels in the body relatively constant despite changes in glucose supply and demand."
I am a student who has been trawling the web for about two weeks looking for some relevant info and have found nothing. If someone could direct me to a website that would actually tell me what diabetes is ALL about I would be much chuffed (English term.) Just naming the actual mechanisms would be sound. Please help...

The first thing you must understand about Diabetes is that there are two types, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is insulin dependent, and Type 2 is insulin resistant although at some point a Type 2 may have to use a combination of insulin and medication or switch completely over to insulin to keep their blood glucose (sugar) levels under control.

Controlling blood sugar levels with both types can vary from individual to individual because how we react to the digestion of carbohydrates, the end result being glucose (blood sugar), can be different. While the Type 1 produces very little or no insulin from the section of their pancreas that produes insulin and is fully dependent on injections of insulin to control their blood sugar, the Type 2, at least at first, usually produces more than enough insulin, but the insulin a Type 2 produces just doesn't work as well as it should or perhaps not at all. A Type 2 will usually have to take medication so that the insulin they produce will work.

I see you are from England, and if you don't mind will give you sources of information that originate in the United States. The first one is The American Diabetes Assn. located at http://www.diabetes.org. Their home page includes a "Search Field" near the bottom on the left-hand side. The other is Mayo Clinic located at http://www.mayohealth.org. Their "Search Field" is located near the top of their home page. Both contain reliable information on Diabetes.

You might also might want to use one of the Search Engines on the Internet. My favorite is Yahoo located at http://www.yahoo.com. Just put in the subject matter you want to look up beginning and ending with " marks if your search consists of more than one word. For example if you are looking up the subject of Apple Juice, you would insert it in the search field as "apple juice". This way the search will be restricted to the subject of apple juice. If you don't put quote marks around a subject that has two or more words, in this case apple juice, it will bring back everything related to apples and everything related to juice of any kind. You will then get a listing of locations and web pages on the Internet which are related to your subject including the search engines estimate, usually a percentage, it thinks will be what you want.

Good luck with your study.

Ken

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Hi Coley-- I can give you some basic information, although you do need to research further... A non-diabetic person usually maintains a blood sugar within a specific range. Let's say between 70 to 120 fasting, but that's US. A diabetic can be all over the scale.. one morning his fasting blood sugar could be 82, the next it could be 162. When he then gets on medication and checks his blood sugar, the goal would be to maintain his blood sugar within certain limits, depending on whether he has eaten, exercised, is sick, etc... (those things will affect everyone's blood sugar).. The more "even" or stabilized your blood sugar is, the easier it is to maintain. A stabilized blood sugar also does a lot less damage to body systems... Hope this answers your basic questions... please surf and find all you can... Best of luck to you. Kay