The pancreas produces chemicals that are crucial to proper digestion and blood sugar regulation. It is an abdominal gland, and is situated in the abdominal cavity, behind the stomach, close to the duodenum with its head pointed toward the small intestine. Both the exocrine and endocrine systems utilize this organ. Our body's endocrine system regulates hormones and other substances through its direct access to the bloodstream, cells, and organs. The exocrine system works via ducts to digest food in the intestinal tract.

Important hormones secreted by the pancreas include insulin and glucagons, which maintain the appropriate levels of sugar throughout our body. The parts of the pancreas responsible for the production of hormones are called the Islets of Langerhans, which are small clusters of cells separated from the exocrine functions. When unprocessed sugar needs to be converted into the kind of energy our cells use, it travels to the liver. There, glucagon breaks down the glycogen variety of sugar and releases its components into the blood. Insulin then appears at the site of cells to help them easily absorb the sugar. This is the process that maintains a non-diabetic's blood sugar at healthy levels.

In its second function, the pancreas creates digestive juices as a member of the exocrine system. These fluids must break down nutrients that the stomach's acids weren't effective at metabolizing. Since the pancreas is so close to the small intestine, there are many ducts streaming from its head to carry the enzymes to the duodenum, which is the beginning of the intestine. The juices start out alkaline in the pancreas, but when they meet substances bathed in stomach acid in the duodenum, they become acidic. These enzymes include lipase, which digests fat, trypsin, or protein, and one that works on carbohydrates, amylase. The resulting nutrients are distributed further down the small intestine.

Diseases associated with the pancreas include diabetes, pancreatic cancer, pancreatitis, and cystic fibrosis, among many others. Any interference with our insulin or enzyme levels wreaks havoc on our well being, whether it is due to genes or diet.