Insulin in Fish???

[Traczy_Bear]

I recently heard that fish contains insulin. Has anyone ever heard this??? I eat a lot of fish and wonder if this will affect my glucose levels

 

[barrym]

I recently heard that fish contains insulin. Has anyone ever heard this??? I eat a lot of fish and wonder if this will affect my glucose levels

Even if it does I don't believe it will get into your bloodstream as that's the problem trying to get an oral medication over injections. I'm probably wrong, let's see who comes along with a more knowledgeable answer.

 

[Scott-C]

Thea Cooper's book Breakthrough, about the discovery of insulin, has a bit in it about how McLeod, who ran the lab which funded Banting's work, had a theory that it would be easier to produce insulin from certain types of fish pancreases than from pork and beef pancreases because of how fish pancreases kept the insulin producing cells separate from the other bits and pieces. But it came to nothing. It might be that your source for your question has picked up on that aspect and, as often happens on the internet, concluded, incorrectly, that fish are loaded with insulin.

Fish produce insulin, otherwise they wouldn't live (are there T1 fish!?!) but just like non-T1 humans, it's in the pancreas, which is part of the gut, and no-one eats a whole ungutted fish unless they want to spend a week on the toilet.

Anyway, insulin is a protein, so even if you were to find a way of eating a whole stack of raw fish pancreases, any insulin in them would be broken down and would no longer be insulin long before it reached your bloodstream. That's why there are no insulin pills.

You'd be cooking them anyway, and that would break down the insulin.