Their scores of memory and thinking tests had also lowered.
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“Normal blood flow regulation allows the brain to redistribute blood to areas of the brain that have increased activity while performing certain tasks”, said study author Vera Novak, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School in Boston.
In the study, Novak measured the changes in the flexibility of the blood vessels and found that among the diabetic patients, their flexibility declined, while it remained essentially the same for those without the condition.
In previous studies, Novak and her colleagues showed that people with diabetes have brains that look five years older than those of similar-aged controls; for children with the disease, that could take a drastic toll on their cognitive skills as they age. It was funded by the US National Institute on Aging, the American Diabetes Association, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center and the US National Center for Research Resources. But for those with Type 2 diabetes, the prospect of cognitive decline is very real.
Figuring out whether such therapies can improve the brain function among people with diabetes is critical, since more people are diagnosed with the disease earlier in life, including in childhood.
At the start of the study, the participants completed a number of cognitive and memory tests at a centre in Boston, USA. “Blood sugar control alone can not treat [cognitive declines] associated with diabetes”, Novak says.
The researchers first tested the memory and think skills of subjects at the beginning of the study, than repeated the tests two (2) years later.
To be exact, the scores of those with the metabolic disorder dropped from 46 to 41 points on average, while the scores of those without the metabolic disorder stayed the same, at an average of 55 points.
Underscoring that reality, new research suggests that insulin resistance and elevated levels of sugar in the blood – both hallmarks of Type 2 diabetes – unleash a cascade of events that, over time, impair the brain’s blood vessels.
Dr. Marc Gordon, chief of neurology at Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, Manhasset, said it’s not new to suggest type 2 diabetes is linked with inflammation and stress to the cells that can lead to problems in the blood vessels.
“When doing any task, from cognition to moving your fingers, you need to increase blood flow to that specific area of the brain”, says Novak.
In other words, he said, it appears the inability of the blood vessels to respond to various demands is what leads to the thinking problem, although inflammation also plays a role in damaging the blood vessels.
The research could explain why people with diabetes are at an increased risk of dementia.
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After two years, they were tested again – and those with diabetes showed marked decreases in their ability to regulate blood flow in the brain.
