Endogenous hypoglycemia is most likely caused by which mechanism?

• A. Taken an overdose of hypoglycemic drugs.
• B. Been following a very restricted fasting diet or is malnourished.
• C. Excessive secretion of insulin or an increase in glucose metabolism.
• D. Exercised unwittingly without replenishing needed fluids and nutrients.

Answer: (C)

Endogenous hypoglycemia occurs when internal regulatory processes drive glucose down, most often from excessive insulin secretion or from tissues using glucose at a higher rate than it can be produced.Insulin lowers blood glucose by promoting uptake into muscle and fat and by suppressing hepatic glucose output; when insulin is secreted in excess (as with an insulin-secreting tumor) or when glucose is consumed more rapidly than it’s produced, blood glucose falls. The other options describe external factors (drug overdose) or decreased glucose production (starvation) rather than a dysregulated internal insulin/metabolic process, so they don’t explain the classic endogenous mechanism as clearly.