Join Director of Health Information Services Brent Vaughan PhD, RD, and Director of Product Development Shane Lefler, MS, as they discuss glucose metabolism* and how 4Life products can help maintain balanced glucose levels.*
Did you know that there are certain nutrients that your body requires to maintain healthy blood sugar levels? Diet, rest, and Exercise play important roles in blood sugar balance. Toxic substances and certain drugs interfere with the natural process of blood sugar regulation. Stress is another factor that changes glucose levels. Sometimes the immune system gets out of balance for the same reasons. When that happens, it can attack your own cells and tissues, damaging your pancreas and ability to naturally balance blood sugar levels. Sometimes the opposite is true. The immune system becomes weak and is not able to recognize or fight threats that attack pancreatic functions. Blood sugar imbalances can lead to many ugly diseases. Sugar imbalances damage the blood vessels and nerves and that tends to make people irritable in the early stages. The good news is that most people do not have to live with it.
The pancreas and most of the endocrine organs contain beta cells that are responsible for the production of hormones such as insulin. Insulin delivers sugars to your muscles and other organs such as the brain and heart to be used for energy.
After many years of study, scientists determined that certain nutrients are needed by the body to keep the pancreas healthy and maintain blood sugar levels in the normal range. Some nutrients help your body replenish and maintain beta cells for proper insulin production. Others balance and regulate your immune system. Yet others help insulin work better by transporting it out of the pancreas and helping blood sugar into muscle cells and organs where it is used. Finally, the digestion of sugars can be slowed to spread the introduction of sugar into the blood stream over time. That slow introduction helps to smooth out the after dinner blood sugar spikes.
