The Pancreas: Insulin and Its Other Duties

The following information has been gathered and compiled through personal experience while traveling, teaching T'ai Chi, Qi Gong, Chinese Herbal medicine, martial arts and other health related subjects. The article also contains feedback from students and anecdotal information from readers of my columns. The following are my opinions and deductions from those sources.

Most of us think of the pancreas as only being involved with insulin and diabetes. As we'll see, that isn't the case. Let's look at what the pancreas is and some of the other functions it performs.

The pancreas is a large, long organ located below and behind the lower part of the stomach and called the sweetbread in animals. Nature located it there because, besides insulin, the pancreas manufactures and secretes digestive juices, especially enzymes.

Enzymes are unstable and, outside the body, are easily destroyed or deactivated by cooking or heating above 116 degrees F. Certain chemicals (chemicals that are found in many refined, highly processed foods, sugar and chemicals in the environment) are also destructive to enzymes.

Because of the multitude of tasks performed by the pancreas, there are also multitudes of related problems. Depression, allergies, schizophrenia, digestive disorders, degenerative diseases, blood sugar disorders and diabetes can be the result(s) of, or can be caused by, pancreatic dysfunction(s).

Stress, sugar, alcohol, refined foods, drugs (prescription and recreational), foods that require extra enzyme output, all over stimulate the pancreas. Highly processed and cooked foods have reduced, or no, enzymes. Raw foods contain natural enzymes that assist in their own digestion. A diet high in raw foods can help take some of the strain off the pancreas, and the rest of the system.

The ways to avoid diabetes 2 and most of the other pancreas related problems are the same: understanding how the body works, knowledge about proper diet, getting sufficient and appropriate exercise and making lifestyle choices that reflect a desire for overall good health.