Your body maintains a relatively small amount of blood sugar in your circulation on a fasting basis (about one teaspoon per five quarts of blood). Following a meal your blood sugar levels naturally rise, as sugar, which is fuel for energy, is distributed around your body. This activity requires proper function of the hormones insulin and leptin. Once the refueling operation is complete, then blood sugar levels, insulin levels, and leptin levels return to a pre-meal baseline.

In order to maintain normal blood sugar levels between meals and during the night, your pancreas makes a different hormone called glucagon that assists your ...