How is Sugar Processed in the Body?

How is Sugar Processed in the Body?

When you eat something with sugar, your body breaks it down into glucose, a basic form of sugar, and sends it into your bloodstream. As glucose is traveling throughout your body via the bloodstream, your blood sugar rises and your pancreas recognizes this. Your pancreas responds by releasing insulin, a hormone that acts like a signal which helps move glucose into your cells for energy. Insulin attaches to insulin receptors at different sites throughout the body and this opens the glucose channels so that glucose could be absorbed into those channels.

But here is the catch: your body only needs so much sugar at once and therefore can only use a limited amount at any given time. Your body doesn't produce endless insulin to signal the removal glucose out of your bloodstream. If your cells already have enough energy, the extra glucose has no option but to be stored. 

• First, your body stores some of that glucose as glycogen in the liver and muscles. Glycogen is the storage form of glucose, meaning glycogen is made up of long chains of glucose. 

• Once those storage spots are full, the rest, or excess glucose, is converted into fat to prevent glucose from infinitely circulating in your bloodstream, because that would be a bad thing. 

This converted fat is stored in various areas of the body, including around organs, which can lead to weight gain and increased risk of health problems over time.