Alzheimers and diabetes

theist · January 8, 2008

<table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"> <table class="wwwActionTableEmail" align="left" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td></td> <td align="right"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr>  <td> Is There a Link between Diabetes And Alzheimer's?

The New Straits Times

01-07-08

ALZHEIMER'S is a neurodegenerative disease. In its most common form, it is found in people over the age of 65. It is the leading cause of dementia. Some 24 million people worldwide have dementia of which some 605 is due to Alzheimer's.

Clinical signs of Alzheimer's disease are characterised by progressive cognitive deterioration, together with declining activities of daily living or behavioural changes.

Insulin is a hormone that is actively involved in blood sugar and energy metabolism. It is of course linked to diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is caused by too little of it and Type 2 is caused by too much of it - a condition increasingly called "insulin resistance".

Scientists are increasingly seeing this hormone as the "master hormone" - that powerfully affects all other hormones.

For some time, researchers have known that people with diabetes have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia than those without diabetes, but the exact cause of this link has not been known.

Now, a new study by researchers in Cologne, Germany, and at Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston, to be published on the online Proceedings of the American National Academy of Sciences, suggests that insulin resistance in brain cells can affect how they function, causing some of the biochemical changes typically seen in Alzheimer's disease.

But hold on! Scientists think they may have discovered a previously unknown form of diabetes, after finding the brain as well as the pancreas produces insulin.

Insulin could be as important to your brain as your body. In fact, your brain even produces it.

However, unlike other types of diabetes, the form - dubbed type 3 by the US Brown Medical School team - is not thought to affect blood sugar.

Type 3 affects brain insulin levels, and appears to be linked with Alzheimer's disease.

The team's research appears in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease in November last year.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes occur when the body is unable to produce or use insulin from the pancreas.

The so-called "type 3" diabetes refers to lower than normal levels of newly discovered brain insulin, which appears to be associated with Alzheimer's disease in some way.

Scientists have known for some time that people with diabetes have an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease - by up to 65 per cent.

They have also discovered that many type 2 diabetics have deposits of a protein in their pancreas which is similar to the protein deposits found in the brain tissue of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Research has been going on to find out what links the two conditions. Dr Suzanne de la Monte and colleagues now believe it is down to what they are calling type 3 diabetes.

By looking at rodents and post-mortem brain tissue from people with Alzheimer's disease they have found that insulin and its related proteins are actually produced in the brain, and that reduced levels of both are linked to Alzheimer's disease.

They say this insulin and its related growth factors and receptors in the brain are vital for the survival of brain cells. If they are not produced at normal levels, the cells die.

In the case of Alzheimer's, the cells that die are located in the part of the brain controlling the memory, called the hippocampus.

Dr de la Monte, who is a neuropathologist at Rhode Island Hospital, said: "These abnormalities do not correspond to type 1 or type 2 diabetes, but reflect a different and more complex disease process that originates in the central nervous system."

Not only does this open the way for targeted treatment to the brain and changes the way we view Alzheimer's disease, "it raises the possibility of a type 3 diabetes", she stresses.

There is also some evidence to suggest that poorly controlled diabetes also affects the functioning of the brain.

However, far more research on a link between Alzheimer's and diabetes is needed before we can draw any firm conclusions.

A statement from the Alzheimer's Research Trust said: "Researchers have believed for some time that the role of insulin and its growth factors are very important in Alzheimer's disease.

"Scientists have suggested that the link could be down to molecular changes affected by insulin.

"Work funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust is currently investigating the way insulin acts on the brain and should improve our understanding of Alzheimer's and hopefully lead to way to new treatments."

Professor Greg Cole, from the University of California Los Angeles' Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, said: "This is a new finding. It is interesting that the brain makes very low levels of insulin."

We also know that insulin is increased by too much refined carbohydrate (starch and sugar) in the diet.

Thus, eating less refined carbohydrates and eating more wholesome ones like fruits and vegetables is always healthier.

* Datuk Dr Rajen M. is a pharmacist with a doctorate in holistic medicine. Email him at health@po.jaring.my

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