The Liver & Blood Sugar  ::  Diabetes Education Online
Diabetes Education Online
« Controlling Blood Sugar
During a meal, your liver stores sugar for later.
When you’re not eating, the liver supplies sugar by turning glycogen into glucose in a process called glycogenolysis.
The liver both stores  and produces sugar…
The  liver acts as the body’s glucose (or fuel) reservoir, and helps to keep your  circulating blood sugar levels and other body fuels steady and constant. The  liver both stores and manufactures glucose depending upon the body’s need. The  need to store or release glucose is primarily signaled by the hormones insulin and glucagon .
During  a meal, your liver will store sugar, or glucose, as glycogen for a later time  when your body needs it. The high levels of insulin and suppressed levels of  glucagon during a meal promote the storage of glucose as glycogen.
The liver makes sugar when you need it….
When you’re not eating – especially overnight or between meals, the  body has to make its own sugar. The liver supplies sugar or glucose by turning  glycogen into glucose in a process called glycogenolysis. The liver also can manufacture  necessary sugar or glucose by harvesting amino acids, waste products and fat  byproducts. This process is called gluconeogenesis.
The liver also makes another fuel, ketones, when sugar is in short  supply….
When your body’s glycogen storage is running low, the body starts  to conserve the sugar supplies for the organs that always require sugar. These  include: the brain, red blood cells and parts of the kidney. To supplement the  limited sugar supply, the liver makes alternative fuels called ketones from  fats. This process is called ketogenesis. The hormone signal for ketogenesis to  begin is a low level of insulin. Ketones are burned as fuel by muscle and other  body organs. And the sugar is saved for the organs that need it.
The terms  “gluconeogenesis, glycogenolysis  and ketogenesis” may seem like complicated concepts or words on a biology test.  Take a moment to review the definitions and illustrations above. When you have  diabetes, these processes can be thrown off balance, and if you fully  understand what is happening, you can take steps to fix the problem.
Gluconeogenesis?  Glycogenolysis? Ketogenesis? What are they? You need to know.
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