Type 3 Diabetes: Alzheimer's Disease

There are many health concerns that are related to diabetes.  One of the new outcomes of diabetes is that there is a possibility of a having a higher chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease.  The reason for this is the large role that insulin plays in the brain.  In type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes, a person’s pancreas is not able to produce insulin or they do not produce enough insulin.  Insulin is important throughout the body because it allows glucose to be broken down and taken into the cell.  The other form diabetes is type 2 diabetes and it occurs when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin or doesn’t make enough insulin.  This seems like it would affect the body of a person the most, but the brain is also affected by the lack of insulin or resistance to insulin.  There are three main functions of insulin in the brain.  The first of these is that insulin down regulates tau phosphorylation.  This then causes lees oxidative stress to occur in the brain.  This leads to less cell apoptosis and less synapses being destroyed.  The second function that insulin has in the brain is to increase the CSF norepinephrine.  This helps control the cognitive function in the brain and it also increases the mental control of the brain.  This allows for individuals to be able to have better memory with more insulin in the brain.  Third role that insulin has in the brain is for insulin to increase the glucose metabolism in the brain.  When this occurs, it has been shown that the person’s cognitive ability has increased.
One of the next big questions that can be asked from this is how big of role does our diets play in this process? Many people eat unhealthy and give little concern with it.  Would someone’s perception change if they knew that it could affect their memory in the future?  The answer would seem to be yes, but it seems that many people do not feel that way.   This is because many people are making unhealthy choices with knowing the preexisting consequences.  If people knew of another reason to eat healthy such as this, they may want eat healthy.  Another concern that comes with diet is the idea that maybe should be taking insulin as a preventive treatment.  This would seem to be a good idea but this would also be very difficult.  It may also give people an excuse to eat food that is unhealthy.  This would cause many other health concerns.  Another problem with eating healthy is the idea that healthy foods are hard to access or they are too expensive.  This is a concern to people that tend to eat unhealthy.  If people are going to try to eat healthy, this would have to change in order for them to be able to eat healthy.

Leave a Comment

Spam prevention powered by Akismet