InsulinInsulin hormone, Insulin injectionInsulin is the hormone made by the pancreas that moves glucose out of the blood and into cells. As a medicine it replaces or supplements what the body cannot produce, and it is given by injection because stomach acid would destroy it.
Pancreas
Pronounced PAN-kree-us
An organ behind the stomach that makes insulin to control blood sugar, and enzymes that digest food. Diabetes is a disease of its insulin-making cells.
The pancreas does two unrelated jobs. Most of it produces digestive enzymes that pass into the intestine. A small fraction — scattered clusters called islets — produces hormones that go into the blood.
Among those islet cells are the s that make . Diabetes is a failure of that fraction; the digestive part usually works normally throughout.
Related terms
- Beta cellβ-cell, Islet beta cellThe cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Diabetes develops when they are destroyed or can no longer keep up.
- DiabetesDiabetes mellitus, SugarDiabetes is a condition in which blood glucose stays too high, either because the body makes too little insulin or because it has stopped responding to it. Pakistan has one of the highest rates in the world, and a large share of people with it do not yet know.