The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner And Its Analogy With Our Blood Sugar

Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink - this line from The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge does provide a poignant aspect of a sailor out at sea. On a becalmed ship, he is surrounded by gallon after gallon of seawater - which he knows will do him more harm than good if he tries to drink it.

Even as he is surrounded by all of it, he cannot make use of any of it.

We can look at our blood sugar levels in the same way. Type 2 diabetics are not exempt from sugar cravings, which sounds weird, doesn't it?

Because when one has diabetes, it means that their blood sugar levels are higher than usual.

Then why on earth would they have sugar cravings? Can't they make use of the sugar in their blood?

Too much sugar in the blood and the cells in the body can't make use of it. Isn't that an Ancient Mariner problem, now?

And that's where the problem that we will analyse begins to form.

Our bodies comprise roughly 38 trillion cells, which differentiate into different cells to support the function of different systems in the body.

It is a common fact that our cells use the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA, also known as the citric acid cycle or the Krebs cycle) to generate energy from this molecule known as acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). Acetyl-CoA is oxidised in the mitochondria to synthesize adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the biochemical energy currency that is used by the cells for energy purposes. Acetyl-CoA can be obtained from glucose (carbohydrates) or ketones (from fatty acids), which we do consume in our diets.

In a healthy human body, insulin is a biochemical that is produced from pancreatic beta cells and signals our cells to take in glucose from the blood after we have had a meal. For the most part, each cell is obedient to the signal. Things work smoothly and are humming along. Blood glucose levels are well maintained at healthy levels — a more technical description of the entire process is found in this journal article here.

That's what happens in a healthy human body.

However, our cells can develop insulin resistance over time.

Let’s put an analogy to it to understand it better.

In our younger years, our parents would have doubtless told us countless times to clean our rooms. Sometimes, we obey them and clean our rooms. At other times, we are preoccupied with doing other things (such as clearing the Big Boss level on our favourite video game, for instance), and as such, do not heed the parental orders to clean our rooms.

What if we were addicted to the game and never heeded the call of the parents to clean our rooms?

Would our parents not introduce more drastic responses, such as threatening us with grounding or taking away our video games? Would they not raise their voices (and perhaps their blood pressure too)?

What if we still refused to clean our rooms? Their responses would get even more drastic. Extreme anger can trigger heart attacks, which isn’t good for them either. They could possibly die from these extreme responses.

That's insulin resistance in a nutshell. Our cells get the insulin signal, but they refuse to heed that signal because there is an overriding signal from somewhere else.

This means, biochemically, that...

This article indicates that an increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 1-beta (IL-1β) are responsible for triggering the insulin resistance problem. It is also possible that increased IL-1β levels also interfere with the beta cell ability to produce insulin.

Hence, Type 2 diabetes can be said to be bonded intricately with an inherent inflammation issue.

The cells in our body get signalled by the TNF-α and the IL-1β to resist the insulin signal. Much like how the Big Boss level has captured our attention such that cleaning our rooms becomes a much lower priority. They take in less glucose than usual, which results in an accumulation of glucose in the blood. When the glucose has accumulated to a level that is high enough, that's the onset of diabetes staring a person in the face right there.

Glucose, glucose, everywhere, / nor any molecule to take in.

The problem is, if the cells ain't uptaking enough glucose...

They would still be hungry.

And they can send signals to the brain that they're still hungry.

The brain then sends out the craving signals.

If a diabetic gives in to their sugar cravings, they're unlocking a vicious amplification loop that can be even more devastating to their health in the long run.

Unfortunately, the advertisements that we see in the media and in the supermarkets aren't really helpful. We are bombarded by products that are rich in refined carbohydrates at every turn, as I examine at The Problem With Excess Sugar Consumption In Our Lives, and it doesn't help us one bit that they look SO aesthetically pleasing that we just want to eat it!

The challenge is to approach the problem from a different perspective.

Multiple "solutions" exist out there with regards to the addressing of sugar cravings. Some of these include the keto diet, which I explore in The Science Of Ketosis.

Biochemically, trace minerals in our diet support cellular function in the metabolism of glucose, including chromium, magnesium, vanadium, zinc, manganese, molybdenum and selenium.

Sometimes, animals are found to have odd cravings for metallic objects. A dog that obsessively licks metal poles may be experiencing a situation known as pica, which is a problem with insufficient trace minerals in their diet.

Are we consuming enough of these minerals? We're intelligent enough to know not to lick metallic objects, especially when we have the power to purchase aesthetically pleasing refined carbohydrate products to soothe the symptoms of our cravings. Dogs do not have that purchasing power.

Soluble dietary fibre is also said to "slow the absorption of sugar and help improve blood sugar levels".

Again, are we consuming enough of that? Most of us tend to be falling short of the daily requirement of 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men under the age of 50.

Couple the uncontrolled craving with an insufficient fibre intake, and one who isn't diabetic may eventually face a problem with diabetes in due time.

The further implications of indulging these cravings

It all begins with a slightly-stronger-than-usual, sustained inflammation signal, though. Indulge the cravings, and the inflammation signalling can go even more awry over time.

The problem with that little inflammation signal is that it tends to go unnoticed, because there isn't much in the way of visible or quantifiable symptoms that one can look at. Doing a blood test to check one's pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations is possible, but it ain't gonna come cheap.

As a result, we may appear to have no health problems on the surface, but our inflammation signalling in the body is quietly going awry. The problem, then, is that inflammation is a signal that is used by the immune system to direct defensive cells towards a site of injury or infection.

When the signalling goes awry and can't be properly regulated, it can contribute to the development of a terrible cytokine storm, which can eventually lead into human death, or permanent organ damage even. Because IL-1β, if present in sufficient amounts, can also be implicated in acute lung injury.

Is it surprising, then, that Type 2 diabetics can be at higher risk of developing the more severe and damaging symptoms of a COVID-19 infection?

Or would it be surprising, too, why seemingly "healthy" young adults can drop dead from a COVID-19 infection?

It all depends on the internal inflammatory signalling patterns in our body, and it isn't visible or obvious to someone else's naked eye how well these signalling mechanisms are operating at!

Joel Yong, PhD, is a biochemical engineer/scientist, an educator and a writer. He has authored 1 ebook (which is available on Amazon.com in Kindle format) and co-authored 6 journal articles in internationally peer-reviewed scientific journals. His main focus is on finding out the fundamentals of biochemical mechanisms in the body that the doctors don’t educate the lay people about, and will then proceed to deconstruct them for your understanding — as an educator should. Do visit his website here or his Patreon to connect.