Sugar and Diabetes: You Decide

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Nov. 29, 2023 – “Your body needs insulin to metabolize sugar. Insulin helps transport the glucose into the cells of the body,” says Tina Cheng, D.O., a pediatric endocrinologist from Good Samaritan University Hospital in New York. When you eat foods containing carbohydrates, like dairy products, grains, beans, fruit, vegetables and sugary foods, the body breaks them down into glucose (aka sugar). The pancreas then produces insulin to move sugar from the bloodstream into the cells to use for energy.

Foods considered simple sugars, like cane sugar, fruit juice, honey and syrup, are metabolized more quickly than more complex carbohydrate sources, such as whole grains and legumes. These foods can cause a surge of insulin to be excreted.

Insulin also helps the body store sugar in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscle, but storage reserves are limited. When a person eats too many carbohydrates that cannot be stored in the liver or muscle for later use, insulin can assist in storing them as fat (as in triglycerides).