Alzheimer’s disease has always been a disease that older generations get and us youthful people don’t need to worry about it until later. That is what many Americans believe at least. I also believe this unfortunate misconception of the truth until recently when I discovered the role of insulin in Alzheimer’s disease. There is a metabolic pathway controlled by insulin in the brain that leads to many of the issues in Alzheimer’s disease. When this pathway is activated normally by insulin you get a healthy working brain. Issues arrive when this pathway begins to be overly activated by a molecule called amyloid-beta peptide. The over activation of this pathway leads to protein tangles that disrupt neuron communication and leads to cell death. This cell death is what causes the memory loss in patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s. Over activation of this pathway does another important thing also. It decreases the activity of a protein abbreviated FOXO. This an awesome protein that we definitely want to be activated. This protein is responsible for activities such as DNA repair and cellular stress relief. When this protein was activated within mice in the laboratory, the mice lived on average 26 percent longer lives than normal. That sounds like a very important protein if you ask me.
So what is the take home message from all this and why should those of us who are still young be doing about this disease now? Well when amyloid-beta peptide over activates the pathway described above we say that the pathway is now resistant to the affects of insulin because it is always activated. That sounds a lot like what happens in diabetes when people become insulin resistant. In fact it’s so similar that many scientists are now calling Alzheimer’s disease a form of diabetes 3. A poor diet and lack of exercise, along with genetics and aging is what leads to an increase in amyloid-beta peptide. Simply maintaining a healthy diet and exercising can greatly reduce one’s chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease. I know there are a million reasons to take care of oneself, but this is just another reason and an important one if you ask me. We don’t want our brains to be insulin resistant, we want FOXO to do its job, and we don’t want Alzheimer’s disease so the most important thing we can do is take care of our bodies.
Walk, Run, and Eat Your Way Awar From Alzheimer's Disease
