The Somogyi effect is the body’s response to low blood sugar by producing high blood sugar. It is named after Michael Somogyi, who discovered insulin treatment for diabetes. The effect is caused by counter-regulatory hormones, which induce hyperglycemia. Avoiding low blood sugar is the only way to prevent it. Some researchers doubt the validity of the Somogyi effect in causing high sugar levels.
The Somogyi effect, also known as chronic Somogyi rebound, is the body’s tendency to respond to low blood sugar by producing high blood sugar. These conditions are clinically referred to as hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, respectively. The Somogyi effect is named after a Hungarian-born researcher who worked in the United States as a professor of biochemistry at Washington University and a clinical chemist at the Jewish Hospital, both in St. Louis, Missouri.
Michael Somogyi is credited with preparing the first insulin treatment for children with diabetes. This is a medical condition characterized by high blood sugar levels due to insufficiency of the hormone insulin or lack of cellular response to it. After this result, obtained in 1922, Somogyi immersed himself in the study of this disease. In 1938, he revealed his own findings: that insulin treatment could actually make diabetes unstable.
In the Somogyi effect, the body responds to the drop in blood glucose levels by producing counter-regulatory hormones which include epinephrine and glucagon. Unlike insulin, which lowers blood sugar, these hormones increase it by using the glycogen molecule, produced by the liver, to transform into glucose. This process then induces hyperglycemia or high blood sugar.
The Somogyi effect is comparable to the dawn effect, also known as the dawn phenomenon, in that the patient suffering from both conditions wakes up with high blood sugar. The sunrise effect can actually occur anytime between 2am and 8pm. Conversely, the Somogyi effect is usually associated with the night.
There’s only one way to prevent Somogyi’s chronic rebound: Avoid low blood sugar. This can be done by testing your blood sugar up to 10 times a day. When Somogyi’s rebound occurs, however, symptoms such as night sweats and rapid heart rate occur.
In the early 21st century, some researchers in the medical community developed doubts that threatened the validity of the Somogyi effect. Chief among these concerns is the level of importance of counter-regulatory hormones in causing high sugar levels. For example, some people with diabetes, particularly those with the type 1 strain, do not wake up due to a lack of release of the hormone epinephrine. Additionally, some studies indicate that a high blood glucose level in the morning does not necessarily follow a low blood glucose level at night.
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