Endogenous hypoglycemia is most likely caused by which mechanism?

Endogenous hypoglycemia is most likely caused by which mechanism?

• A. Taken an overdose of hypoglycemic drugs.
• B. Been following a very restricted fasting diet or is malnourished.
• C. Excessive secretion of insulin or an increase in glucose metabolism.
• D. Exercised unwittingly without replenishing needed fluids and nutrients.

Answer: (C)

Endogenous hypoglycemia occurs when internal regulatory processes drive glucose down, most often from excessive insulin secretion or from tissues using glucose at a higher rate than it can be produced.Insulin lowers blood glucose by promoting uptake into muscle and fat and by suppressing hepatic glucose output; when insulin is secreted in excess (as with an insulin-secreting tumor) or when glucose is consumed more rapidly than it’s produced, blood glucose falls. The other options describe external factors (drug overdose) or decreased glucose production (starvation) rather than a dysregulated internal insulin/metabolic process, so they don’t explain the classic endogenous mechanism as clearly.

Endogenous hypoglycemia occurs when internal regulatory processes drive glucose down, most often from excessive insulin secretion or from tissues using glucose at a higher rate than it can be produced.Insulin lowers blood glucose by promoting uptake into muscle and fat and by suppressing hepatic glucose output; when insulin is secreted in excess (as with an insulin-secreting tumor) or when glucose is consumed more rapidly than it’s produced, blood glucose falls. The other options describe external factors (drug overdose) or decreased glucose production (starvation) rather than a dysregulated internal insulin/metabolic process, so they don’t explain the classic endogenous mechanism as clearly.