When you eat a snack, K cells give your body an early warning. They send out GIP, a messenger that tells the pancreas: sugar is coming, get ready!
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K cells live in the lining of the first part of your small intestine. Food from the stomach passes right over them.
A K cell is tall, with its top touching the food and its bottom full of tiny bubbles of a hormone called GIP.
Scroll up to the 3D model and press Send GIP to watch the warning go into the blood.
When K cells sense sugar and fat in your food, they send GIP into the blood.
GIP travels to the pancreas. It tells the beta cells there to get ready to release insulin. Insulin helps sugar move out of the blood and into your cells, where it's used for energy.
Sugar you eat makes your body release more insulin than the same sugar put straight into the blood. Gut cells like K cells are part of the reason!