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Scientists have found a vital information about Insulin, the essence of life force. Presence of less insulin, the glucose-regulating hormone, in brain may be the cause for long life. This tremendous information is reported in the journal “Science” by a group of researchers headed by Dr. Morris White, a Howard Hughes Institute investigator at Children’s Hospital in Boston, USA. The group picked up mutant mice that over-ate, became fat and got symptoms of diabetes but yet lived 18% longer than their normal lab nice. The secret behind this is that these mice lacked a key gene that affects insulin. This new information raises question about how desirable it is to use insulin for treating type-2 diabetes. It is known to the Doctors that people doing exercise regularly live longer on average. The researchers also know that putting animals on a strict diet makes them live longer, though this has not been shown to work in human beings. So, Dr. Morris White’s group wanted to see if the two effects were linked. They had looked at Insulin because both fasting and exercise make cells more insulin-sensitive, meaning they respond more effectively to the effects of insulin.

The group made effort to look at the entire insulin pathway-a series of actions in the cell that control the body’s use of insulin. The team investigated mice that had no working copies of one of the genes involved in this pathway, called insulin receptor substrate 2 or Irs2. The group found that mice with no copies of Irs2 got defective brains and also diabetes. But mice having one working copy lived 18% longer than normal lab mice even if they could shorten their lives being overweight and having higher insulin levels in their blood. Read more…

For performance of various functions, human body needs energy. It is food that supplies that energy. Carbohydrate is turned into glucose as a result of digestion of food. The primary source of energy that is absorbed into our bloodstream is glucose. When this glucose is absorbed in our bloodstream, it is insulin that comes into action. Insulin is the name of a hormone secreted by an organ situated near the stomach which is called pancreas. It is insulin that helps in removing excess glucose from blood and allows its easy entry into the cells of the body. In this way, glucose that enters the body cells is broken down to produce energy that is required for our body. This is the process of a normal body.

If a person has diabetes, his pancreas either fail to produce sufficient insulin or produce insulin that is ineffective to carry out its function. Because of insufficiency or ineffectiveness of insulin, glucose that is built up in the blood stream is unable to enter the cells of our body. That is why, the body starves from energy. So, diabetes may be understood as a metabolic disorder which results in elevated blood glucose levels because of impairment of insulin secretion or action.

Diabetes is mainly of three types:-

Type -1:- This type of diabetes generally develops in early life and is known as juvenileonset diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Actually it is an autoimmune disorder. Very often virus infections may happen in this type of diabetes while the body’s own immune system or defense mechanism attacks and destroys the ?-cells of the pancreas what produce insulin hormone. The symptoms of this type of diabetes are severe. It can be life threatening if it is not well treated in proper time.

Type -2:- The second type of diabetes happens because of several factors, the most important being obesity. This is adult onset diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Usually this type of diabetes cannot be identified for years unless it is diagnosed. Its symptoms are milder. If it is not properly treated in proper time, it can be of life threatening case.

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