There exists a link between type II diabetes and Alzheimer’s. People who have type II diabetes are at a significantly higher probability of developing Alzheimer’s. This is due to numerous reasons, one of which being a resistance to insulin means that different pathways in the brain are over activated, which can lead to cell death, or aren’t activated (because the cell requires more to activate) which will also eventually lead to cell death. Neurons dying in the brain are irreplaceable and are major contributors to Alzheimer’s. While treatment exists, like an intranasal insulin spray (Detemir) has been shown to improve memory. While memory does improve, it is merely treating a symptom of the disease and not the disease itself.
Ultimately the connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s surprised me, it does make sense. Looking at many people who have developed type II diabetes in my life and looking at their cognitive faculties. While many of these people are also much older than I (in their sixties and seventies) so I have to take this information with a grain of salt. As a species as we age our cognitive functions decrease simply due to wear and tear. This raises the question for me: are they actually showing signs of Alzheimer’s or is it an effect of aging?
While the end result may be the same actually having a name for what is happening to them somehow makes it more… bearable. If it’s aging, or if it’s Alzheimer’s knowing which one it is, for me, would be a big deal, and not knowing if the reason I’m losing my mental faculties is because of my age or a neurodegenerative disease would bother me to my dying day. While I will probably develop Alzheimer’s or a similar neurodegenerative disease later in my life, I hope that by then some sort of pharmaceutical or therapy will be able to restore cognitive functions… Even if it’s just temporary.
The Surprising Relationship between Insulin and Alzheimer's
