---
title: "Blood Glucose Control and Diabetes"
description: "Insulin and glucagon push blood glucose back towards its set point after a meal or a long gap without one. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes break the loop at different places, which is why the treatments di"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/blood-glucose-control-and-diabetes-mt_eOzNtiBvX2
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/blood-glucose-control-and-diabetes-mt_eOzNtiBvX2.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# Blood Glucose Control and Diabetes

Insulin and glucagon push blood glucose back towards its set point after a meal or a long gap without one. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes break the loop at different places, which is why the treatments differ.

Subject: Science · Area: The Human Body · Ages 14 to 16
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/blood-glucose-control-and-diabetes-mt_eOzNtiBvX2

## Ready when they can

- Says what the pancreas releases when glucose is high and when it is low, and what the liver does in each case.
- Tells type 1 from type 2 by which part of the loop has failed.
- Reads a glucose against time graph and marks where insulin was acting.

## Lesson: Keeping sugar steady

After a meal your blood glucose climbs above its set point. The pancreas releases insulin, and the liver answers by storing glucose as glycogen. Between meals glucose falls, the pancreas releases glucagon, and the liver releases stored glucose back.

**Example.** Read a glucose graph like a story. A peak after eating marks insulin at work pulling the line down. A dip before the next meal marks glucagon pushing it back up. Each bend in the line is one hormone answering a drift.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes break the loop at different places. In type 1 the pancreas makes no insulin, so injections replace it. In type 2 the body ignores its own insulin, so diet, movement, and weight control come first.

**Tip.** Always name both the signal and the responder. Say what the pancreas releases when glucose is high and when it is low, then say what the liver does in each case.

**Recap.** Insulin banks glucose after meals, glucagon withdraws it between them, and each diabetes type breaks a different link.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Hormones and Negative Feedback](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/hormones-and-negative-feedback-mt_OBa6BHmW29)
- [Body Temperature Regulation](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/body-temperature-regulation-mt_zaXr5wcJD2)

## Opens up

- [Hormones in the Menstrual Cycle and Fertility](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/hormones-in-the-menstrual-cycle-and-fertility-mt_DENo5Fbr1d)
- [Ultrafiltration and Selective Reabsorption in the Nephron](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/ultrafiltration-and-selective-reabsorption-in-the-nephron-mt_vSKfoJN6zh)
- [Fuel Homeostasis and the Fed to Fasted Switch](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/fuel-homeostasis-and-the-fed-to-fasted-switch-mt_zZrXwbWqw-)