Pancreatic System
The pancreas is located in the abdomen, behind the stomach and is around 25cm in length. The pancreas is a gland that secretes both digestive enzymes and important hormones.
The pancreas performs two important functions within the body:
Exocrine pancreas
The first function belongs to the exocrine pancreas. The pancreas produces digestive juices and enzymes to help digest carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Endocrine pancreas
The second function belongs to the endocrine pancreas. The pancreas produces the hormone insulin together with a variety of other hormones. Insulin helps to control the body’s blood sugar (glucose) levels.
Insulin is secreted when your blood sugar is raised and it causes the muscles and other bodily tissues to take up glucose from the blood to fuel their activity. Insulin also promotes the absorption of glucose into the liver, where it is stored as glycogen for use in response to stress or exercise. If the islets of Langerhans produce too little insulin, glucose levels in the blood are raised and can result in diabetes as well as increasing the risk of a number of other problems throughout the body.
Unhealthy diets have a lot to do with pancreatic problems. Eating too many sugars such as candies, cookies, cakes, pastas and even breads, can cause an overload of sugar in the body. As the body breaks down these sugars it does it at such a rapid pace, it creates blood sugar imbalances that can lead to diseases like diabetes. This rapid rise and fall process of high to low blood sugar levels due to diabetes, leads to the deterioration of the pancreas and eventually pancreatic exhaustion, which can be prevented by eating a proper diet.
There are many causes for the failure of our pancreatic metabolic function. Often more than one cause exists simultaneously within a patient. Listed below are some of these and all must be considered as possible or ruled out as non-causative in each patient:
- The pancreas fails to produce an adequate quantity of enzymes
- We take into our bodies such large quantities of foods, which require pancreatic enzymes for their digestion, that there are no enzymes available for cancer digestion
- Diet: incorrect type, amount and timing of nutritional intake.
- Nutritional components are not available (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.) that are necessary for normal metabolism within the pancreas
- We may fail to take enough minerals into our diet, which are essential for releasing the enzymes into activity
- We may produce enough enzymes but we fail to take enough coenzymes (vitamins) into our diet to make the enzymes work
- Failure of the small intestine to make adequate pancreatic activators
- Obstruction of pancreatic secretion flow
- Often we produce enough enzymes but the blood supply to a cancer area is so poor that the enzymes we produce are not carried to the area
- Improper pH balance (acid/alkaline balance) within the intestinal tract and/or within the cancer tumour mass
- Infection: bacterial or viral
- Chemical poisons within the patient’s body from the environment, food chain, drugs, metabolic wastes or medications
- Man made biologicals: viruses or infectious agents
- Emotional instability and/or trauma
- Non-absorption of pancreatic secretions (pancreatin) from the intestines into the body due to scarring or damage to the small intestine from various diseases
- Our bodies produce anti-enzyme factors. These factors keep the enzymes from digesting our own bodies. Sometimes we produce an over-abundant supply of these anti-enzyme factors
- Balance: instability and weakness of the autonomic nervous system
- Genetic: inheriting a very small, weak or defective (ineffective) pancreas
- Radiation damage such as from therapeutic procedures, etc. Symptoms of pancreatic problems.
The symptoms of a diseased pancreas depend on the underlying cause but may include:
- Pain in the upper abdomen
- Loss of appetite
- Yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice)
- Back pain
- Bloating
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Digestive upsets
- Passing foul-smelling and fatty faeces.
Testing for pancreatic function:
- Fasting glucose
- Haemoglobin A1C (HbA1C)
- 2-hour Glucose Tolerance Test
- Insulin
- C-peptide test
- Lipid studies
- Liver profile
- Comprehensive Stool analysis
- Enzyme blood test
- Secretin stimulation test
- Islet cell cytoplasmic autoantibodies
Please refer to the Laboratory Chapter or Truly Heal Functional medicine App for further explanations of each test.
Recommendations:
- Pancreatic enzymes(good products are Wobenzym, Vitalzym)
- Support for healthy glucose metabolism
- Chromium, helps to increase the number of binding sites on your body's cells for insulin to enter
- Cinnamon can increase your glucose metabolism about 20-fold, which significantly improves blood sugar regulation
- R-alpha lipoic acid (ALA ) not only helps with blood sugar metabolism but it also helps to reduce those pesky free radicals with its antioxidant properties
- Gymnema sylvestre (gymnema) leaf; Gymnema contains substances that decrease the absorption of sugar from the intestine. Gymnema may also increase the amount of insulin in the body.
- Banaba leaf extract; researchers have studied banaba for its blood sugar lowering effect, which is similar to insulin. Banaba's active ingredient is corosolic acid, sometimes known as phyto-insulin (or plant insulin) due to its insulin-like effects
- Fenugreek seeds help lower blood sugar levels, plus they aid in slowing down the absorption of carbohydrates, stimulate secretion of insulin from the pancreas and promote insulin sensitivity
- Bitter melon contains several promising bioactive compounds which appear to activate an enzyme called AMPK. This protein plays a key role in regulating your metabolism and moving glucose from the bloodstream to the cells
- Silbinol®is a specialised extract derived from the bark and heartwood of the Indian kino tree (pterocarpus marsupium,) which helps to support the movement of sugar from your bloodstream into your body's cells, helping to enhance insulin sensitivity.
Pre-diabetes and Insulin Resistance
Glucose is our body’s key source of energy, fueling our bodies to function. All the food we eat is broken down into proteins and nutrients, which are used in metabolism, cell replacement, and immune function. The amount of fuel we need varies all the time, but our blood sugar levels need to remain stabilized. Insulin helps regulates those levels.
In a healthy person insulin regulates normal blood glucose levels in all situations. This means if blood sugar rises due to food intake then insulin stabilizes these levels by signaling the cells to absorb glucose.
But when there is too much glucose in the body, cells become desensitized but the body continues to release more insulin, however blood sugar levels become high. Prolonged high levels of insulin disrupts cellular metabolism, increases inflammation, and eventually the cells quit responding to the signal from insulin — creating insulin resistance.
In insulin resistance, muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond properly to insulin and thus cannot easily absorb glucose from the bloodstream. As a result, the body needs higher levels of insulin to help glucose enter cells creating a downwards spiral.
After a while the beta cells in the pancreas can’t keep up with the demand and cells aren’t able to take in glucose. This will create an imbalance in blood sugar levels and the person will show signs and symptoms of pre-diabetes and insulin resistance:
- Excess body weight, especially around the waist
- High blood pressure
- Elevated fasting triglyceride levels
- High cholesterol
- Extreme thirst or hunger
- Feeling hungry even after a meal
- Tingling sensations in hands and feet
- Feeling more tired than usual
- Feeling dizzy when not eating regularly
- Having mood swings
- Getting angry when no food available
- Stress
- Diet high in processed carbohydrates
- Physical inactivity
- Ethnicity
- Hormone imbalances
- Steroid use
- Sleep problems, especially sleep apnea
- Cigarette smoking
- Acanthosis nigricans (darkened patches of skin at the neck, and sometimes the elbows, knees, armpits, and knuckles)
Once a person has pre-diabetes, continued loss of beta cell function usually leads to type 2 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes have high blood glucose levels. Over time, high blood glucose damages nerves and blood vessels, leading to complications such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-limb amputations.
We can easily deal with pre-diabetes and insulin resistance by influencing lifestyle, proper nutrition and exercise.
A client definitely should be tested when:
- Is leading a sedentary lifestyle
- Is overweight
- Eats a typical diet (SAD)
- Has high triglyceride levels
- Has parent or siblings with diabetes
- Has high blood pressure
- Has symptoms of insulin resistance
Blood tests:
- Fasting glucose: Healthy fasting glucose levels should not exceed 85 mg/dL or 4.7 mmol/L for optimal health and longevity, and 2-hour post-meal glucose levels ideally should not exceed 125 mg/dL or 7.0 mmol/L.
- HbA1c levels: Measuring glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) gives an overall picture of average blood sugar levels over a period of 3 months.
Chart of Normal and Elevated HbA1c Levels
| Diagnosis | HbA1c Level |
| Normal | Below 5.7 % or 6.5 mmol/L |
| Pre-diabetes | 5.7% to 6.4% or 6.5mmol/L to 7.6mmol/L |
| Diabetes | 6.5 % or greater or 7.6mmol/l or greater |
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Lifestyle and diet recommendations:
- Diet consisting primarily of lean meats and protein, high-fiber, whole grains, leafy greens, fresh vegetables and legumes, and some fresh fruit.
- Avoiding processed foods, high sodium, sugary foods, snacks, cookies and baked goods, fruit juices and soda.
- Meals should consist of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. Each meal should contain some lean protein, and no more than 15 grams of carbohydrates, in the form of fruits and vegetables, minimizing grains.
- Ensuring enough fiber, preferably in the form of vegetables.
- Exercise is an important component to help insulin levels stay normal, maintain hormonal balance, and regulate metabolic function. It also helps decrease stress and contributes to better health overall.
- Getting plenty of sleep
- Drinking a minimum of 2 liters of water daily.
Further reading recommended:
Article: Seductively sweet & severely damaging
https://www.trulyheal.com/seductively-sweet-severely-damaging/
Further reading but not required:
Book: “There is a Cure for Diabetes” by Gabriel Cousens MD