Jul
31
A new study published in JAMA Neurology says a sugary diet often linked to diabetes, obesity and weight gain, could increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a neurological disorder and most common type of dementia associated with gradual death of brain cells and causes cognitive decline and memory loss.
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Insulin is the hormone made by the pancreas that helps move glucose (blood sugar) from the blood to cells for the body to use as energy or store it away. It also helps in maintaining the blood sugar level from getting too low or getting too high. Insulin resistance happens when regular level of insulin is not enough to move the bood sugar to cells, thus causing the pancreas to release more.
Researchers studied the brain scans of 150 middle-aged people with an average age of 60, who were at risk of Alzheimer’s but with no record of memory loss. The brain scans showed that higher insulin resistance was associated to less blood sugar in other parts of the brain that are more receptive to Alzheimer’s disease.
“The findings are interesting because people with diabetes are at increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, but we are only now learning why they may be at increased risk,” says Barbara Bendlin, the leader of researchers and an assistant professor of medicine at Wisconsin-Madison University.
Insulin resistance is a hallmark of diabetes, where diabetes itself – a metabolic disease in which the body inability to properly use insulin to convert sugar into energy – has been connected to Azheimer’s disease, however the most precise reason of the connection, isn’t clear yet. “By altering insulin resistance in midlife, it may be possible to reduce future risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Medications and a healthy lifestyle are possible ways to do that,” Bendlin said in an email to Reuters Health.
In addition, Dr. Luca Giliberto, an investigator at the Litwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimer’s Disease at Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York, stated that insulin resistance may cause worse functioning of the brain connected with Alzheimer’s, but this does not mean it will directly cause Alzheimer’s disease. “We do not know what causes Alzheimer’s disease. We don’t know if lowering blood sugar will prevent Alzheimer’s,” Giliberto said.
According to a National Diabetes Statistics Report, 29.1 million Americans have diabetes and adults older than 64 have prediabetes. Bendlin noted that insulin resistance is caused by obesity, sedentary lifestyles and, most of all, poor diet.
Tags : Sugary Diet, Alzheimer’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, Insulin resistance, Insulin, glucose, Diabetes, Diabetes, blood sugar
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