# Glucagon

Category: Hormones

Glucagon is a stress hormone whose primary role is to mobilize stored energy during emergencies, acting in concert with the catecholamines. Danny Roddy has described it as coupled with adrenaline and other catecholamines as a "true emergency hormone," distinguishing its rapid…

6 passages · 2 authors · 2011–2024 · Most-cited: [Danny Roddy](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/danny-roddy/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/glucagon

## Synthesis

**Glucagon** is a *stress hormone* whose primary role is to mobilize stored energy during emergencies, acting in concert with the catecholamines. [Source 1, 4] Danny Roddy has described it as coupled with **adrenaline** and other catecholamines as a "true emergency hormone," distinguishing its rapid, short-term action from the more sustained, long-term stress responses mediated by **cortisol** and pituitary hormones. [Source 1] This framing positions glucagon not as an isolated metabolic regulator, but as a central component of a complex biochemical web activated by stressors ranging from psychological disturbance to physical trauma. [Source 4]

The hormone's function is to provide substrate when exogenous energy is unavailable, but it does so by acting as a brake on metabolic processes over the long term. [Source 2] Mike Fave noted that glucagon is there to "slow metabolism and to provide substrate in the form of carbohydrate when you don't have anything coming in." [Source 2] Jay Feldman elaborated on a critical temporal dichotomy: in the short term, glucagon can appear to be a "gas pedal" by increasing respiration, but in excessive amounts or over the long term, it is not. [Source 2] This is because glucagon stimulates the synthesis of glucose at the expense of protein and, in turn, stimulates the release of more **free fatty acids**, creating a vicious cycle. [Source 3]

Ray Peat identified that this destructive cycle is specifically triggered by **polyunsaturated fatty acids** (PUFAs). He explained that free fatty acids inhibit glucose utilization at **pyruvate dehydrogenase** and stimulate glucagon, which then further increases fatty acid release. [Source 3] This creates an apparently illogical positive feedback loop where an initial energy failure turns on the very mechanisms that caused it. [Source 3] Crucially, Peat distinguished that while PUFAs activate stress hormones like glucagon, adrenaline, and cortisol, *saturated fats* such as stearic acid inhibit these stress reactions, making the stress response self-limiting in a person with a healthier fat composition. [Source 3, 5]

The chronic elevation of glucagon is therefore inseparable from a broader degenerative stress cascade. Roddy cited Hans Selye's work showing that glucagon rises rapidly in response to various stressors, followed by an elevation of blood glucose but not insulin. [Source 4] This state, where glucagon acts without the counter-regulation of insulin, is described as dangerous, contributing to diabetic ketoacidosis, muscle loss, and extremely high levels of glucose, ketones, and free fatty acids. [Source 2] The trajectory of a high-energy, structured organism involves moving away from reliance on these primitive, catabolic hormones. [Source 1] Feldman pointed out that the popular weight-loss drugs, the GLP-1 agonists, function as antagonists to glucagon, highlighting that lowering glucagon, rather than elevating it, is the therapeutic goal for metabolic disease. [Source 6]

## People also ask

### How does glucagon act as both a gas pedal and a brake on metabolism?

In the short term glucagon can increase respiration, but over the long term or in excess it slows metabolism by promoting glucose synthesis at the expense of protein and triggering a vicious cycle of free fatty acid release.

### Why do polyunsaturated fats specifically trigger a destructive glucagon cycle?

Peat argued that PUFAs inhibit glucose utilization and stimulate glucagon, which then further increases fatty acid release, creating a positive feedback loop; saturated fats like stearic acid inhibit this stress reaction.

### What is the relationship between glucagon and popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs?

The corpus notes that GLP-1 agonists function as antagonists to glucagon, indicating that lowering glucagon, rather than elevating it, is the therapeutic goal for metabolic disease.

## Related concepts

- [Gluconeogenesis](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/gluconeogenesis/index.md)
- [Aldosterone](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/aldosterone/index.md)
- [Butter](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/butter/index.md)
- [Free fatty acid theory of insulin resistance](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/free-fatty-acid-theory-of-insulin-resistance/index.md)
- [Glycation](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/glycation/index.md)
- [Insulin](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/concepts/insulin/index.md)

## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — BV #1: Bryan Johnson’s Longevity Diet, How Stress Affects Our Cells, & Whether Glucagon is Evil

Danny Roddy · Interview · Sep 19, 2024 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tXXW85Sb4o

> **Danny Roddy:** so it's so ridiculous but um i mean my understanding of glucagon is it's uh coupled with the um adrenaline and other uh the catecholamines as a true emergency hormone you know and things like uh cortisol and the pituitary hormones are more sustained long-term uh stress and so so yeah i mean it literally is absurd to say that we think it's evil or something. It's like life saving, you know, in the short term. But like, I think like you guys have talked about and we've all talked about, like the trajectory of life is reaching higher and higher energy states, you know, to accumulate structure. And I don't think you want to be relying on these primitive hormones that slow things down in an effort to go longer on less. And so.

### Source 2 — BV #1: Bryan Johnson’s Longevity Diet, How Stress Affects Our Cells, & Whether Glucagon is Evil

Danny Roddy · Interview · Sep 19, 2024 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tXXW85Sb4o

> **Jay Feldman:** Go ahead. Long-term it is. Short-term it does increase respiration. And we talked about that dichotomy in a couple of episodes on our podcast where we dug into a study on stress and mitochondrial responses to it. So if you do look at what happens short-term with glucagon, it looks like it is the gas pedal, but long-term it's not. And in excessive amounts, it's not. So let's let him create that argument and then we'll comment more on it. Want me to read this? Yeah, please.
>
> **Danny Roddy:** In type 2 diabetes, the balance between glucagon and insulin is critical. People with type 2 diabetes still produce insulin and glucagon. Their pancreas often works overtime to pump out extra glucagon and insulin in the early years. Because extra weight above someone's personal fat threshold often underlines type 2 diabetes, someone with type 2 diabetes typically has a lot of extra stored energy. So while we often think of type 2 diabetes as a problem with carbohydrate metabolism, the root cause is really overfilling our fat fuel tanks beyond what our bodies are comfortable with. Subsequently, their alpha cells work night and day, pushing out glucagon to signal the liver to unload some of that burden by pushing out the energy stored in their liver and fat cells. But in type 2 diabetes, the beta cells are also working overtime, trying to put the brakes on the slow release of stored energy from flowing into their bloodstream. Eventually, these people can experience pancreatic burnout and rapid weight loss where their beta cells give up. But in the contrast to type 1 diabetes, these people... These people have become insulin resistance because their fat cells are full. Their bodies have become resistant to the effects of insulin. So while they produce enough insulin, their cells are no longer sensitive to its signaling effects that allow glucose into the cell, i.e. the anabolic role. And insulin is no longer effective at holding the stored energy back. Glucagon alone would be a very effective weight loss drug other than the diabetic ketoacidosis, muscle loss, and extremely high levels of glucose, ketones, and free fatty acids in the blood that accompany it, i.e. don't try this at home.

### Source 3 — Energy Production Diabetes Saturated Fats KMUD 2011

Ray Peat · Interview · 2011 · http://www.l-i-g-h-t.com/files/herb-doctors-energy-production,-diabetes-and-saturated-fats.mp4

> **Herb Doctor:** Which poisons you again, right?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yah. The lactic acid is pro-inflammatory and doesn't produce enough energy for normal function. And the essence of diabetes was pointed out by Randle in 1963 or 1964 when he observed that if you increase the free fatty acids in the blood, you very quickly make the cells unable to use glucose.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** Did it shift their metabolism from glucose directly or?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yah. It's now been worked out that, there are two very clear points where the free fatty acids inhibit the use of glucose: pyruvate dehydrogenase (that's the one you need to burn glucose), and then they stimulate glucagon which happens to turn on the synthesis of glucose at the expense of protein.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** Ok, they stimulate glucagon.
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yea. And glucagon, then, in turn, stimulates the release of more fatty acids. There are several points where the free fatty acids activate, for example, adrenalin, ACTH, cortisone, thyrotropic hormone (TSH) and glucagon. All of which increase the release of free fatty acids from your fat cell storage. That seems very illogical of the body to create vicious circles in which once you start having an energy failure, you turn on exactly what caused it. But it turns out that it's only the polyunsaturated fatty acids that have those terrible anti-energy effects, if you look at a comparison of stearic and linoleic acid, for example.

### Source 4 — Generative Energy #48: Optimal Foods and Supplements | Do Carnivore Diets Increase Cortisol? | Porn and Masturbation

Danny Roddy · Interview · Feb 3, 2021 · https://app.podcastguru.io/podcast/1525148857/episode/48-optimal-foods-and-supplements-do-carnivore-diets-increase-cortisol-porn-and-masturbation-with-danny-roddy-7a0d31b33384ba1630b9ac990facebb3

> **Danny Roddy:** So they say, however, glucagon alone cannot sustain an increased gluconeogenesis since the process is dependent on the availability of gluconeogenic precursors. Thus, concomitant lack of insulin and or increased levels of counter-regulatory hormones acting on peripheral tissues like catecholamines or cortisol are also required. So it doesn't sound super awesome to have like increased functioning of glucagon. And that doesn't even sound, well, I think you can have frequent, I forgot what it's called, like hyperglucogonemia, I think. I had the papers, but I didn't put them in here. Anyways, okay. So let's, again, glucagon is central in this whole stress cascade. And somebody saying, oh, cortisol doesn't raise, glucagon raises. Like that's not better. It's not a better situation. And more or less these, all these hormones are entangled in a big complex biochemical web. And so I don't think any of them act alone, you know? Okay. So again, just to bring this point home, the stress of life behind by Hans Selye in 1984. He says in connection with disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism, it is noteworthy that Dr. S.R. Bloom has recently summarized a good deal of evidence indicating that glucagon, an anti-insulin substance of the pancreas, is a stress hormone. Stress increases energy requirements and creates a demand for an increased supply of energy yielding glucose, which is satisfied with glucagon. In fact, a sudden rise in blood glucagon concentrations have been demonstrated both animals and in man under the influence of many stressors. And in one of those papers, they say when conscious lightly or the paper that Selye specifically mentioned by Bloom, he says when conscious lightly restrained primates were startled by noise, the levels of glucagon in the plasma rose rapidly. And this rise was followed by an elevation of blood glucose, but not a plasma insulin.

### Source 5 — Cellular Repair KMUD 2012

Ray Peat · Interview · 2012

> **Ray Peat:** Every time your blood sugar falls, that’s a stress reaction. It first calls adrenalin to move glycogen into the blood stream, largely out of your liver. But your muscles have quite a bit of stored glycogen too that they can use. And, adrenalin first activates that. But when you run out of the stored glycogen, and your blood sugar falls more…
>
> **Herb Doctor:** How long does that take ?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Some people do it in 2 or 3 minutes. But with a good liver, you should be able to go 8 hours without any stress.
>
> **Herb Doctor:** That’s why as soon as you wake up in the morning, you should have a glass of orange juice, or something sweet taking your blood sugar back up from the long night of fasting. That’s why it’s called “break-fast”.
>
> **Ray Peat:** When the blood sugar falls, or when you have any stress, the adrenalin, after the glycogen is depleted, the adrenalin starts mobilizing free fatty acids out of your fat cells, but also out of your other tissues cells, where phospholipids are turning down very fast. And phospholipids will come into the blood, releasing free fatty acids. And if you’ve incorporated a lot of the polyunsaturated fats into your tissues, these free polyunsaturated fats happen to not only interfere with sugar metabolism, but they also signal more stress hormone production. So, they will tell your brain that the stress is worse than it was.

### Source 6 — BV #1: Bryan Johnson’s Longevity Diet, How Stress Affects Our Cells, & Whether Glucagon is Evil

Danny Roddy · Interview · Sep 19, 2024 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tXXW85Sb4o

> **Danny Roddy:** yeah well said yeah it also clears the blood of free fatty acids um so again this is kind of what we were talking about earlier like uh not not only would it have all those those effects you just mentioned but probably side effects like running on glucagon and adrenaline like people don't tend to feel very good when those hormones are elevated uh do you want me to read this glucagon is central to diabetes
>
> **Jay Feldman:** yeah yeah i guess so mike you don't want to throw anything in there

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._