Introduction to the research paper

Academic Writing in Action: Introduction to the Research Paper

Academic Writing

What's something you've probably never heard of, yet you take with you everywhere? If your guess is your pancreas, you're exactly right! The pancreas is one of the most important parts of your body, because it helps turn the food we eat into energy our bodies need to live. Once we finish eating, the food goes on a long path inside our bodies called the digestive system, which you can think of as a railway. The food, which is like a train, goes into your mouth and down your throat while passing through different "stops" like the stomach and the small intestine. Although the food doesn't stop in the pancreas, the pancreas adds important things to the food and the railway it travels on to change it into energy.

There are two very important things that the pancreas does to help turn your food into energy. The first helps the railway which your food travels on, which is your bloodstream, by putting special hormones into your blood cells called glucagon and insulin. These hormones make sure your body has the right amount of sugar in your blood, because sugar, called glucose, is what your body uses for energy. Glucagon puts higher amounts of sugar in your blood, while insulin lowers the amount of blood sugar. Glucagon and insulin are added to the blood depending on how much your sugar your body needs at the time. These hormones are made in the part of the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans, which are small groups of cells inside the pancreas.

The other important job the pancreas does is to finish breaking down the parts of food that give us protein, carbohydrates, and fats so that they can be used by our bodies. The pancreas does this by putting chemicals called enzymes, which change these parts of food into forms your body can use, into the small intestine. The changing of food into the energy we use is called digestion. The pancreas makes amylase to digest starch, lipase to digest fats, and trypsin to digest protein. These enzymes are made by acinar cells inside the pancreas. So the next time you finish eating your favorite dinner, remember that for your body, and especially your pancreas, the fun of digesting and giving energy to your body is just starting!

Sure, you've heard the name before. But do you know what your pancreas does? It plays a vital role in the digestive system, the process by which your body converts the food we eat into energy to keep us alive. The pancreas allows the human body to extract the essential nutrients we need from our food in two ways, the first of which is called its endocrine function. Endo means "within," and the endocrine function refers to what the pancreas does inside the blood cells that carry the particles of food we eat. Specifically, the pancreas inserts hormones known as insulin and glucagon into the blood stream, which help to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood. This is especially important because sugar, also called glucose, is what the body uses for energy. Glucagon increases the level of glucose in the blood, while insulin lowers it. The pancreas produces and sends these hormones, depending on how much glucose your body needs at the time, from the Islets of Langerhans, which are special cells inside the pancreas. A third hormone, somatostatin, is also produced here, and is used to control how much glucagon and insulin is sent into the bloodstream.