Insulin resistance this compensatory increase does not occur, blood glucose concentrations increase and type 2 diabetes or latent autoimmune diabetes of adults occurs. Any food or drink containing glucose (or the digestible carbohydrates that contain it, such as sucrose, starch, etc.) causes blood glucose levels to increase. In normal metabolism, the elevated blood glucose level instructs beta (β) cells in the Islets of Langerhans, located in the pancreas, to release insulin into the blood. The insulin, in turn, makes insulin-sensitive tissues in the body (primarily skeletal muscle cells, adipose tissue, and liver) absorb glucose, and thereby lower the blood glucose level. The
Pulsatile insulin blood into the liver in variable amounts, closely related to ingestion of meals. For induction and maintenance of insulin-dependent enzymes essential for glucose metabolism in the liver (e.g. hepatic glucokinase, phosphofructokinase, and pyruvate kinase), the hepatocytes require a defined insulin level (200-500 µU/ml in the portal vein) concomitant with high glucose levels (which acts as a bimolecular signal). In non-diabetic subjects, portal insulin concentrations are twofold to threefold greater than those in the peripheral circulation. During the first pass through the liver, 50% of the insulin is removed, strongly insinuating that the liver is the principal metabolic target organ of