why shouldnt insulin be consumed orally??

Answer 1

becoz there is no other option

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Insulin is a hormone formed by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas. There is 2 main types of insulin deficiency(diabetes):
1)Type 1, where an autoimmune action in childhood destructed the cells secreting the enzyme. The blood glucose level is high above the threshold and it begins to appear in urine. There is severe weight loss, sense of fatigue,polyphagia and polydepsia.
They need insulin as treatment.
2)Type 2, which occurs to older people mainly due to obesity and its symptoms appear gradually. Its treatment depends on diet regulation mainly and sometimes needs oral hypoglycemic drugs.

Insulin is a hormone formed of amino acids linked together to form 2 polypeptide chains.The beta cells can form this insulin from amino acids but since these cells are destructed as in type 1, insulin needs to be injected since the protein will be digested by enzymes in the stomach and intestine because it is to large to be absorbed as such. Insulin is important because it sends messages to the cells of the muscle and fat cells and also the satiety center in the brain to uptake glucose and burn it as a fuel. Without it fat is used and may lead to ketosis, coma and death.

So until they discover a another method remember there is no alternatives put I hope the doctors do find you one!

Answer 4

The development of an effective oral insulin formulation has been hampered by problems of delivering a sufficient supply of insulin to the body at the time when it is needed. Because insulin is largely broken down in the digestive system, much of the insulin delivered orally does not enter the bloodstream and there is an undesirable variability in the rate of insulin absorption


Insulin cannot be taken in pill form.
If it were to be consumed orally, it would break down during digestion just like normal proteins in your food.
Insulin must be injected into the fat under your skin in order for it to get into your bloodstream.

Characteristics of Insulin


There are three characteristics of insulin:



Onset is the length of time before insulin reaches the bloodstream and begins lowering blood glucose.


Peaktime is the time during which insulin is at maximum strength in terms of lowering blood glucose.


Duration is how insulin continues to lower blood glucose.

The Basics of Insulin: 4 Types


Rapid-acting insulin


Regular or short-acting insulin


Intermediate-acting insulin


Long-acting insulin

Rapid-acting Insulin

Examples: insulin lispro or insulin aspart


Onset: Begins to work at about 5 minutes
Peaktime: Peak is about 1 hour
Duration: Continues to work for about 2-4 hours


Regular or Short-acting Insulin

Onset: Reaches the bloodstream within 30 minutes
after injection

Peaktime: Peaks anywhere from 2-3 hours after injection.
Duration: Effective for approximately 3-6 hours.

Intermediate-acting Insulin


Onset: Reaches the blood stream about 2 to 4 hours
after injection

Peaktime: Peaks 4-12 hours later
Duration: Effective for about 12 to 18 hours

Long-acting Insulin

Onset: Reaches the bloodstream 6-10 hours after injection
Duration: Usually effective for 20-24 hours



There is also a very long-acting insulin, known as glargine insulin, which starts to lower blood glucose levels, on average, 1 hour after injection and keeps working evenly for 24 hours after injection.

Answer 5

Insulin is degraded in the digestive tract and the exact amount that would enter into the blood stream is difficult to predict. However, now, oral route is being tried in clinical trials after suitable stabilisation. It is still in the research stage and is not available in the market.

Answer 6

Insulin is polypeptide hormn and easily digested in stomach by pepsin enzyme. So only option left is subcutaneous or i/v ( in emergency and ketoacidosis). However work is on inhalational insulin. May be after a year or two patient be advised to take a puff or two before meal!!!!!

Answer 7

Insulin is actually a proteinaceous enzyme secreted by the pancreas(beta cells of islets of Langerhans to be precise). If it is taken in as a liquid it will simply get broken down to energy ATP in the stomach & intestine(proteins are energy units of the body). Hence instead of bringing down the glucose level in the blood(energy is in the form of glucose in the blood) it will just add to it increasing the glucose level.

Answer 8

If you drink it, then your stomach will digest it and it will not get into your blood stream where it is needed. Injected it goes directly where it is supposed to go. They are coming out with an inhaled form of insulin.. Can't wait... Good luck, and God bless you.

Answer 9

Because the stomach will digest it.
You want it to go into the blood stream indigested.

That's why other medications have to be injected as well. They won't be nearly as effective (or effective at all) if swallowed.

FYI there are various companies working on an inhaled version of insulin.

Good luck!

Answer 10

I hear there is now an inhalable form of insulin.

Answer 11

Insulin is a protein, and like all other proteins, it would be digested and used as building blocks for other proteins.