In a study released Monday by the journal Neurology, researchers provide strong evidence that may link Type 2 Diabetes – the most common form of diabetes – with a heightened risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
For the study, Japanese physicians recruited individuals, ages 60 and older, and followed them for 11 years. Their findings revealed that diabetics were 35% more likely to develop signs of Alzheimer’s, than were non-diabetics. Those with the most severe diabetes at the beginning of the study had more than a threefold increase in the rate of dementia, the umbrella term for cognitive impairments which includes Alzheimer’s disease.
How the two diseases are related is still unknown but (in the video below) Dr. Sam Gandy – a highly regarded Alzheimer’s expert from the Mount Sinai Medical Center – provides evidence about a specific gene that may increase the risk for both Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
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The new findings from the Japanese study further evidence the link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Which in turn offers hope for insulin-based treatments (like the one in the video below) that may one day help slow the progression, or perhaps even cure the progressive disease that now become the 5th leading cause of death for older Americans.
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I’ve read that they performed tests on administering insulin to the brain and that it slowed the progrssion of Alzheimer’s; however, they say that they are years away from possibly formulating a medicine that can do that.
Hi Sandy,
Yes, they have done clinical trials on administering insulin directly to the brain – mainly through the use of inhalers. Although an FDA approved treatment is still years away, it is at least promising to see that as a society we continue to make progress toward a cure.