Researcher Says Managing Diabetes Could Help Prevent Dementia
DALLAS, TX (IANS) – A scientist in his research has found that reducing the risk of dementia in Alzheimer’s is possible by keeping diabetes well controlled or avoiding it in the first place.
Narendra Kumar, an associate professor at Texas A&M University, who led the study published in the journal ‘American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’, found that diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are strongly linked.
“By taking preventative or amelioration measures for diabetes, we can prevent or at least significantly slow down the progression of the symptoms of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.
Diabetes and Alzheimer’s are two of the fastest-growing health concerns globally. Diabetes alters the body’s ability to turn food into energy and affects an estimated one in 10 US adults. Alzheimer’s is among the top 10 leading causes of death in the US, according to the study.
The researchers investigated how diet might affect the development of Alzheimer’s in people with diabetes.
They discovered that a high-fat diet reduces the expression of a specific protein in the gut called Jak3. Mice without this protein showed a chain of inflammation from the intestine to the liver and then to the brain. As a result, the mice displayed Alzheimer ‘s-like symptoms in the brain, along with cognitive impairment.
The researchers believe that the pathway from the gut to the brain involves the liver.
“Liver being the metabolizer for everything we eat, we think that the path from gut to the brain goes through the liver,” Kumar said.
They have been studying the functions of Jak3 for a long time and have found that changes in the expression of Jak3 due to food can lead to leaky gut, resulting in chronic inflammation, diabetes, reduced brain ability to clear toxic substances, and dementia-like symptoms seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
Pradeep Srivastava
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This article is very informative. The link, alzheimers.org.uk, provides the following additional information.
“Diabetes and the risk of dementia
Diabetes is a confirmed risk factor for dementia. Learn about some of the research into diabetes and dementia.
Does diabetes increase the risk of dementia?
A hormone called insulin controls blood sugar levels. Diabetes is when not enough insulin is produced, or the body’s cells do not respond to insulin properly leading to high blood sugar levels. There are two forms of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes – a condition people are born with that causes the body’s immune cells to wrongly attack the cells that make insulin.
Type 2 diabetes – a condition people develop during their lives when the body starts to produce less insulin or cells don’t respond to the insulin as they should – known as insulin resistance.
Research shows that type 2 diabetes increases a person’s risk of developing dementia. Dementia risk also increases with the length of time someone has diabetes and how severe it is. However, it is important to note that diabetes is only a risk factor and does not mean that a person with diabetes will go on to develop dementia.
In people with type 1 diabetes. severe blood sugar highs and lows are also associated with increased risk of developing dementia.”
“Research into diabetes and dementia
People with diabetes have about 60% increased risk of developing dementia compared to those without diabetes. This was from a review that brought together the findings from 14 studies.
Studies also suggest that the risk of dementia increases with longer durations of diabetes. Although another study showed that dementia diagnosis decreases within the first two years of diabetes diagnosis and then increases after that.
There are reasons that diabetes may affect dementia risk:
Diabetes is linked to other dementia risk factors – so someone with diabetes is more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.
March 28, 2024Some of the changes that occur in Alzheimer’s disease are similar to those in diabetes. In both, nerve cells in the brain may become resistant to the effect of insulin. This may lead to the build-up of amyloid and tau proteins in the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is sometimes unofficially known as type 3 diabetes.”