Member-only story
Let Me Tell You About the Body’s Little-Known Superhero, GLUT4
How to use it to your advantage
Are you familiar with GLUTs?
GLUTs are proteins that transport glucose from the blood into cells. Our cells use glucose as fuel. For your well-being, the glucose level in the blood must stay at an optimal value. Both too much and too little pose a risk of unwanted health effects.
Insulin
Insulin is the main regulator of the body’s blood glucose level. Insulin stimulates GLUTs to leave their resting place inside the cells and goes to the surface of the cells.
Then you have the superhero GLUT4. It can appear on the cell surface without insulin being involved.
GLUT4
When you exercise, your muscles need more energy. This is one of the areas our body function quite magically. In fact, the muscles pick up the glucose they need.
We should definitely use this to our advantage. Exercise to move GLUT4 from its resting place inside the muscle cells to the surface. Extract more glucose from the blood just by increasing your physical activity.
