A Small Organ Doing Two Very Different Jobs
The pancreas sits behind your stomach, about 15 centimetres long, and most people could not point to it on their own body. It runs two entirely separate systems simultaneously. The first is exocrine: it produces digestive enzymes, lipase, amylase, protease, that travel through a duct into the small intestine and break down fat, carbohydrates, and protein from every meal. The second is endocrine: clusters of cells called the islets of Langerhans release hormones directly into the bloodstream. Insulin and glucagon are the two that matter most for diabetes risk.
