Maintaining healthy glucose balance is critical. When blood sugar is out of range, either too high or too low for too long, serious damage can be done to the body, including irreversible damage to various tissues, falling into a coma or even death. The body has intelligent internal mechanisms such as neurotransmitters, hormones and specific organ systems in place that normally prevent these complications through carefully monitoring and balancing the blood sugar. The main organ that monitors and maintains glucose levels is the pancreas which secretes Insulin when sugar levels get too high.
We take in glucose daily through our diet, but it is also synthesised by the liver through a process known as Hepatic blood sugar production. Excess dietary glucose is stored in the liver as glycogen. Glucose is released from glycogen in a process known as glycogenolysis. Another critical mechanism for glucose production in the liver is when glucose is newly synthesised from precursors; this process is known as hepatic gluconeogenesis. During gluconeogenesis, the liver converts certain amino acids or metabolites, such as alanine, glycerol, and lactate into glucose.