Hiding behind the stomach
Your pancreas (PAN-kree-us) is a long, flat organ tucked behind your stomach, deep in your belly. In a grown-up it's about 6 inches long, about as long as a dollar bill.
It's shaped a bit like a long, bumpy leaf, with a wide end on the right and a thin tail on the left.
The pancreas has two very different jobs. It's on your digestion team, and it's also a gland that makes hormones.
Digestive juices
When food leaves your stomach, your pancreas squirts juice into the small intestine. This juice is full of enzymes, tiny helpers that chop food into pieces small enough for your body to use.
Some enzymes break down starches, like in bread. Some break down proteins, like in beans and meat. Others break down fats.
The juice also calms down the strong acid coming from the stomach, so it doesn't bother your small intestine.
Insulin, the key
When you eat, sugar from your food goes into your blood. Your cells need that sugar for energy, but they need help letting it in.
That's where insulin (IN-suh-lin) comes in. Little groups of cells in your pancreas make it. Insulin works like a key that unlocks your cells so sugar can move in from the blood.
When your blood has extra sugar, the pancreas sends out more insulin. When your blood sugar gets low, it makes a different hormone that tells the liver to let out some of its stored sugar.
Diabetes
Some people have diabetes (dye-uh-BEE-teez). It means their body has trouble getting sugar from the blood into the cells.
In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops making insulin. It isn't caused by anything a person did, and you can't catch it from someone like a cold. Kids with type 1 check their blood sugar and get insulin to stay healthy.
In type 2 diabetes, the body has trouble using its insulin well. Doctors help with that too.
Kids with diabetes can play, learn, swim and do just about everything their friends do. Being a kind friend helps a lot.