The True Purpose of Insulin Receptors

It is commonly believed that the purpose of insulin receptors is to enable serum glucose to enter into the body's cells, but -- on the contrary -- the purpose of insulin receptors is to keep glucose out of certain cells at certain times.

Insulin receptors are present in the cell walls of muscle, fat, and liver tissue, but they are not present in the tissues of the brain. Insulin receptors are not needed in the brain; glucose enters brain cells without them.

If glucose can enter brain cells without the aid of insulin receptors, then glucose should be capable of entering any cells without the intervention of insulin receptors. The purpose of insulin receptors is therefore to retard the entry of glucose into selected cells.

This interpretation makes sense. In order to provide the brain with an adequate concentration of serum glucose, which is its only supply of energy, the insulin receptors in the tissues of less critical organs can be closed in order to divert glucose to the brain when necessary.

Eugene Paul