Fargo also goes on to say, “If we’re going to change the current trajectory of the disease, we need consistent and meaningful investments in research from the federal government to ensure a more robust pipeline”. In brains of Alzheimer’s patients, blood sugar use tends to be lower in areas that generate memories, especially regarding times, dates, names and facts.
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“The risk of Alzheimer’s increases with age, and as baby boomers get older, the number of people developing the disease will rise to levels far beyond anything we’ve ever seen before”, explains Keith Fargo, who is the director of scientific programs and outreach with the Alzheimer’s association. “That’s why people need to know that insulin resistance or related problems with metabolism can have an effect in the here and now on how they think, and it’s important to treat. For Alzheimer’s, it’s not just people with Type 2 diabetes”.
For the study, scientists examined brain scans in 150 late middle-aged adults, who were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, but showed no sign of memory loss. Medications and a healthy lifestyle are possible ways to do that, she said.
According to CDC reports, 29.1 million U.S. citizens are suffering from diabetes. The brains using less insulin, had less energy to function and rely information.
One expert cautioned that having prediabetes, or insulin resistance, doesn’t mean you’re doomed to develop Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.
Despite researchers’ not knowing how the diagnosis method can be improved, Karran suggested that new imaging techniques will probably give the greatest boon to the detection of early-stage Alzheimer’s.
The study found that over two-thirds of the participants had a parent who suffered from Alzheimer’s, about 40 percent had a gene mutation associated with increased Alzheimer’s risk and about 5 percent had type 2 diabetes.
Researchers also concluded that insulin resistance was associated with poorer processing of sugar throughout the brain.
Overall, insulin resistance affected the glucose metabolism in the left medial temporal lobe of some patients, which was clearly linked to lower performance in the memory test and the PET scans. The research was published online in the journal JAMA Neurology, on July 27.
In the brain, insulin helps transmit messages between cells, he noted. Many other scientists, however, contest these findings, claiming that Solanezumab was only tested on individuals who had already manifested symptoms of Alzheimer’s and therefore have already shown decreased brain function. “Conceivably, there is also a disease of defective insulin signaling, which this paper would support”.
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Giliberto recommended healthy living as the best way to keep blood sugar under control and perhaps protect mental health.
