Type 3 diabetes

Obesity is on the rise in the United States and with this comes a number of health issues.  One of those issues is Alzheimer’s disease (AD).  Obesity can lead to diabetes which is the body’s inability to regulate glucose.  Insulin plays a vital role in the brain as shown in figure 1. It stops oxidative stress, one of the leading causes of aging, and apoptosis (cell death). In diabetes the insulin no longer bind to insulin receptors correctly.  This causes the cell to perform acts otherwise not performed if working properly.  In short, insulin isn’t able to bind to receptors causing things called neurofibrillary tangles.  These tangles cause neurological death in the brain which causes AD.  Because of this, many call AD type III diabetes, because of its link with insulin.  This is just another reason why it is important to stay healthy and to fix the obesity problem in the country.