Do you know what beta-cells (β-cells) are? They are the cells in your pancreas responsible for insulin production, and they are vitally important to your health. I am becoming aware that one of my goals needs to be to educate people about damage that is occurring to these cells long before the diagnosis of diabetes. In fact, damage to these cells in many ways IS diabetes - but by the time Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, about half of the function of these cells has usually been lost.What causes this damage? One key component is high blood glucose - so in a very vicious cycle, high blood glucose damages the β-cells, which causes them to be less able to respond to high blood glucose, which causes more damage. This process happens insidiously at first, but increasingly picks up speed as more and more damage occurs. So while it usually takes many years for the initial β-cell damage to occur, the process begins to accelerate dramatically as the body careens towards actual diabetes. At that point, many systems of the body are affected, and the risk of experiencing the devastating complications of diabetes shoots up.
This all sounds very dire, but there actually is good news as well! It turns out that if we can intervene early in the process (way before diabetes would be diagnosed) "accumulating evidence suggests this decline may be slowed or even reversed". This comes from a recent consensus statement published by the Endocrine Society in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Although the science to help us understand this process has been building for many years, most physicians are not very aware of it. To correct this, the Endocrine Society has put up a new Web site, "BetaCellsinDiabetes.org" to educate health care professionals about "the role of beta cells as key drivers in the development and progression of Type 2 Diabetes and the potential to improve patients' capacity to produce and secrete insulin by intervening early and aggressively with treatments that target beta cell function". On this site you can see an excerpt of the Consensus Statement I quote above.
How do we know whether our beta-cells are starting to fail, and what should we do about it? Interestingly, the Consensus Statement quotes a fasting blood glucose of 89 or above as a danger signal. This is vitally important, as most physicians will not get excited until fasting blood glucose reaches at least 100, by which point significant damage has occurred. What should be done? It's pretty obvious to me that "early and aggressive treatment" should include not letting our blood glucose go up in the first place, and that the first line of defense should be controlling carbohydrate intake in order to control blood sugar. Furthermore, if your body responds positively to carbohydrate reduction, I take it as a sign that this process may have begun in your pancreas. Use it as an important reminder that controlling your carbs is a key step in protecting your future health.
I think we should also be asking why this important information is not being blasted everywhere throughout the health media world.
Pancreas Image Courtesy of ADAM.
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Thanks so much for the article about beta cells. That is so helpful to know and has never been explained by anyone. My husband was recently diagnosed with Type 2 so I have also been monitoring my BS as well and fastings range anywhere from 92 to 113. So this is very useful information to me. Thanks again.
There have been discussions about the ineffectiveness of the diagnostic criteria for diabetes mellitus, because in many epidemiological studies, those whose fasting blood glucose was below 99 mg% still have risks of diseases.
The diagnosis with diabetes mellitus is just a milestone of the path we take when our body begins to handle carbohydrate foods. Diabetes Mellitus: A Diagnosis Too Late. (1 of 3) http://www.carbohydratescankill.com/127/diabetes-mellitus-diagnosis-too-late-of-2. The size of the mass of beta cells is shrinking when it receives repeated assaults with hyperglycemia when the death rate of beta cells overtakes the reproduction rate of the same. When the mass of beta cells is reduced to 40-60% of its original, glucose intolerance appears. So, should we wait until such time when the diagnosis is made? To keep one’s blood glucose level stable within a normal range is more important than keeping a fasting blood glucose reading below 89 mg%.
An individual that has been on a low carb diet for an extended period of time will have a fasting blood glucose level much higher than what is considered “normal” range. For a low carb eater, a fasting blood glucose level is usually between 90 and 100. This phenomenon is called the “Dawn Effect” It is the postprandial glucose level that should be looked at for pre-diabetes testing. I have been eating low carb for 8 months and my fasting blood glucose is always around 100 however it stays at that level all throughout the day, never rising above 120.