1. Introduction

Hypoglycemia is abnormally low blood glucose level. This is a condition where the islets of Langerhans are too sensitive. In response to the metabolic demand, they secrete too much insulin. The liver converts too much sugar into starch, leaving too little in the circulating blood. The final result of eating a meal is a drop in blood sugar. The sufferer from this condition is always hungry and no amount of eating will keep the level of his blood sugar where it belongs.

Overindulgence in sweets tends to sensitize the islets of Langerhans by subjecting them to repeated stimulation and exercise. The body overcompensates, as it were, thus disorganizing and upsetting the internal hormone balance. Here then, is the connection between sugar and starch addiction and hyperinsulinism.

Another factor is the indulgence in any substance that contains caffeine. Caffeine (a drug found in many beverages like coffee, tea, coca cola and soft drinks, cocoa, chocolate, etc.) is a common cause of the upset of the delicate mechanism involved in sugar tolerance. Caffeine results in the stimulation of the adrenal cortex and more of its hormones are produced. These hormones, in turn, induce the liver to break down glycogen into glucose that flows into the bloodstream. The islets of Langerhans go to work to secrete insulin to force blood sugar to its normal levels.

In the course of time, because of their repeated stimulation, the islets become so sensitive, due to enervation, that the delicate control is lost and they overrespond to a normal stimulus.