Diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease

RalfLott

Here's an interesting article on the connection between Diabetes and Alzheimer's:

Unraveling Alzheimer’s: Making Sense of the Relationship between Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927856/

Several studies have found that people with AD have significantly higher levels of insulin and glucose than healthy controls [13, 15, 54]. In a large sample longitudinal study of elderly subjects, Luchsinger et al. conclude that 39% of AD in their sample was attributable to hyperinsulinemia or diabetes [55]. This is also consistent with earlier findings of Ott et al. that diabetics that were treated with insulin had far greater risk of AD.

The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that testing for glucose tolerance should occur early and often.

There is no downside to glucose tolerance testing other than minor cost, and the upside could be the earlier identification and treatment of pre-diabetes and diabetes. Given the evidence of a very strong association between hyperinsulinemia and AD (and other forms of dementia), every patient with AD or mild cognitive impairment should be regularly tested for glucose intolerance.

Furthermore, obesity is also strongly associated with hyperinsulinemia [97] and diabetes [102], and thus, not surprisingly, increases the risk of AD [103]. Given the widespread prevalence of obesity, pre-diabetes, and diabetes, glucose intolerance testing should become a standard part of regular health screening in the broader population.

According to the American Diabetes Association, of the 29.1 million Americans with diabetes in 2012, 8.1 million (28%) were undiagnosed. Furthermore, 86 million Americans are estimated to be pre-diabetic (i.e., have impaired glucose tolerance) and most will have no symptoms that are recognizable without medical testing [104]. Early identification of, and intervention for, diabetes and prediabetes could significantly lessen the impact of both diabetes and AD.

nvmomketo

I was disturbed, yet pleasantly surprised, when I lowered my carb intake so my BG and insulin were lower. Within a ew weeks my mental clarity made a shocking improvement. I knew I wasn't quite as sharp as I once was but my cognitive improvemnets were enough that even my family noticed. It wasn't just my perception. Yikes.

I have no idea if I am started down the road to dementia, or my my low carb diet just gave me a bit of a boost back to where I was a decade or so ago, but I don't want to lose that benefit. It was enough of a shock to scare me straight.

A really good book on the topic of the link between glucose intolerance/resistance is Newport's What if There is a Cure?

RalfLott

nvmomketo wrote: »

A really good book on the topic of the link between glucose intolerance/resistance is Newport's What if There is a Cure?

I'd been thinking about reading Dr. Newport's book after seeing her spellbinding TEDTalk on Youtube - thanks for the recommendation!

https://youtu.be/Dvh3JhsrQ0w

nvmomketo

Her website is good too. It has a lot of the same information as the book. It shows her husband's Alzheimer's test where you have to draw a clock... The change, within days, of starting a coconut oil is remarkable!

ClarissaCLD

Just catching up on posts and have just seen this and my first response was 'oh great as if diabetes isn't bad enough now I'm at higher risk of Alzheimer's!'

Having watched my Nanna gradually disappear with that dreadful disease, this scares me almost more than diabetes.