Doctor D's Women's Health Corner: December 2010

KNOW YOUR BODY!!!- BODY PART OF THE MONTH

The Pancreas

The Pancreas is a gland organ. It is both an endocrine gland, meaning that it secretes hormones such as insulin, glucagon and somatostatin, as well as an exocrine gland, meaning that it secretes pancreatic juice that contains digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestines. These enzymes help to further break down the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in the digestive tract.

Insulin- facilitates the uptake of glucose from your diet into all of the cells of your body so that it can be used for energy production. Therefore, insulin decreases glucose in the blood

Glucagon- increases glucose in the blood by working opposite to insulin. It stimulates the liver to produce more glucose.

Somatostatin- acts as a regulatory hormone with many effects on the pituitary gland as well as the digestive system.

Laine Strutton is a Ph.D. student in Law & Society at New York University. Her academic focus is on women's rights law in sub-Saharan Africa. She completed her B.A. at the University of Arizona and then served in the Peace Corps as a secondary school teacher in rural Mozambique. She has since worked at an indigenous women's rights NGO in Bolivia and at a conflict resolution NGO in Kyrgyzstan. After receiving her M.A. in Human Rights from Columbia University, she became a self-proclaimed New York addict which is where she resides and studies when she is not traveling all over the world.

Doctor D's Women's Health Corner

Friday, December 3, 2010

UP COMING - FROM MY CONTRIBUTOR: