By IB Times Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IB's RSS feed
August 26, 2010 11:42 AM EDT
A new study from Japan showed that people with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop plaques in the brain that are related to Alzheimer’s disease.
The study involved 135 people with an average age of 67 from Japan, who were tested for blood sugar levels and were also monitored for symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease over the next 10 to 15 years.
The study found those who had abnormal results on three tests of blood sugar control had a higher risk of developing plaques.
Plaques were found in 72 percent of people with insulin resistance and 62 percent of people with no indication of insulin resistance, the study showed.
The research published in the journal Neurology did not find a link between diabetes factors and tangles in the brain.
Plaques and tangles are considered to be the two main causes of the destruction of brain tissue seen in Alzheimer's disease.
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“Further studies are needed to determine if insulin resistance is a cause of the development of these plaques,” said study author Kensuke Sasaki, with Kyushu University in Fukuoka.
“It’s possible that by controlling or preventing diabetes, we might also be helping to prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” Sasaki said.
Insulin resistance, a form of pre-diabetes, happens when insulin, a hormone in the body, becomes less effective in lowering blood sugar.
“Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are two epidemics growing at alarming levels around the world,” said Sasaki.
“With the rising obesity rates and the fact that obesity is related to the rise in type 2 diabetes, these results are very concerning,” he said.
Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. It occurs when billions of neurons in the brain begin dying prematurely.
Today it is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050.
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