Role of insulin

What is the role of insulin?

Insulin is a hormone which works as a chemical messenger that helps your body use the glucose in your blood to give you energy. You can think of it as the key that unlocks the door to the body’s cells. 

Once the door is unlocked, glucose can enter the cells where it is used as fuel. In Type 1 diabetes the body is unable to produce any insulin so there is no key to unlock the door, and the glucose builds up in the blood.

The body can't use glucose to provide energy and tries to get it from elsewhere and starts to break down stores of fat and protein instead. This can cause weight loss. Because the body doesn’t use the glucose it ends up passing into the urine.

Nobody knows for sure why these insulin-producing cells have been destroyed, but the most likely cause is the body having an abnormal reaction to the cells. This may be triggered by a virus or other infection.