Diabetes Linked with Alzheimer's Disease
Patients Who Develop Type 2 Diabetes Before Age 65 at Risk
Mar 6, 2009
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, responsible for over 80% of North American diabetes cases. The blood sugar disturbance has been linked to dozens of different health problems, from vision deterioration to stroke – and the latest research points to a connection between diabetes and later development of Alzheimer's.
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
Diabetes is a blood sugar illness in which the body's insulin signals are not properly translated into storage of blood sugar. This results in unhealthy peaks and low points in a person's blood sugar (which needs to be maintained within a fairly limited range for the body to function) and eventual pancreatic exhaustion from insulin production.
Unlike Type 1 diabetes, people aren't born with Type 2: the disease is usually linked to unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. People who are overweight or obese are considered 8 or more times as likely to develop diabetes as those with a smaller body mass index.
The number of Americans with type 2 diabetes has doubled in the past 15 years, and the incidence worldwide has gone from 30 million to 200 million since 1985.
Risk Factors Associated with Type 2 Diabetes
Diabetes has historically been linked with a long list of symptoms and illnesses, including:
- vision deterioriation or "diabetic retinopathy," leading to blurring and eventual blindness
- circulation problems
- 3-4 times the risk of cardiovascular diseases like myocardial infarction and stroke
- renal (kidney) failure
- necrosis that can require amputation
New Research Links Diabetes with Development of Alzheimer's
For some time, diabetes has been linked with vascular dimensia, a type of brain deterioration caused by damage to the brain's blood vessels. Recent Alzheimer's disease research also indicates a significant connection between type 2 diabetes and later development of Alzheimer's disease and memory loss.
A survey of over 13,000 Scandinavian twins shows that those who were afflicted with diabetes before the age of 65 had more than double (225%) the chance of Alzheimer's of their non-diabetic twin. The presence of both diseases in one twin (but neither in the other) indicates that the link between the two may be more significant than even the hereditary factors in both diseases.
Diabetes Prevention Protects Your Brain
These findings are of particular concern given the rising numbers of diabetes patients and the aging baby boomer generation. The Mayo Clinic reports that the number of diabetics in the United States is expected to double in the next 40 years – a frightening number, given the mental consequences as these adults reach their later years.
The new findings linking Alzheimer's with type 2 diabetes highlight the importance of education and action on this totally preventable blood sugar disease.
Sources
Beliveau, Richard, "Diabetes can lead to Alzheimer's," Toronto Sun, March 2, 2009.
Mayo Clinic Staff, "Diabetes and Alzheimer's Linked," MayoClinic.com, March 6, 2009.
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