What is the metabolic abnormality that underlies the characteristic symptoms of diabetes mellitus?
Monday, February 9th, 2009
What is the metabolic abnormality that underlies the characteristic symptoms of diabetes mellitus?
A. A failure of the kidney tubules to reabsorb glucose from the urine
B. A failure of the villi of the intestine to absorb glucose from food
C. The body can’t switch from glucose metabolism to fat metabolism between meals.
D. The body’s cells can’t retain glucose absorbed from the blood.
E. The body’s cells can’t absorb enough glucose from the blood.
I believe it is E.
Insulin, which is secreted by the Pancreas, helps to control the amount of sugar in the bloodstream. When the Pancreas does not secrete enough Insulin or none at all, the sugar remains in the blood. Then the body tries to flush out all of the sugar by drinking and urinating- two key symptoms of diabetes.
