16 replies to this topic

[stephen_b]

Article on Northwestern university findings:

Now scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling -- crucial for memory formation -- would stop working in Alzheimer's disease. They have shown that a toxic protein found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, rendering those neurons insulin resistant

Now Klein and his team have shown that the molecules that make memories at synapses -- insulin receptors -- are being removed by ADDLs from the surface membrane of nerve cells.
...
"We're dealing with a fundamental new connection between two fields, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, and the implication is for therapeutics. We want to find ways to make those insulin receptors themselves resistant to the impact of ADDLs. And that might not be so difficult."

The professor leading the research team suggests "With proper research and development the drug arsenal for type 2 diabetes, in which individuals become insulin resistant, may be translated to Alzheimer's treatment".

Interesting given the lower incidence of Alzheimer's in people following the Mediterranean diet. It looks like there are lots of good reasons to avoid getting insulin resistance.

Stephen

[Mind]

Diabetes can slow the brain, causing trouble with two types of mental processing in adults of all ages

More and more reasons to limit sugar and empty carbs in your diet.

Healthy adults did significantly better than diabetics on two tests of mental functioning -- executive functioning and speed of response, the team at the University of Alberta found.

"Speed and executive functioning are thought to be among the major components of cognitive health," Roger Dixon, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

Executive functioning includes the ability to focus, work with new information to solve problems and to give thoughtful answers to questions.

Writing in the journal Neuropsychology, the researchers said they studied 41 adults aged 53 to 90 with type 2 diabetes and 424 adults in good health.

There were few differences between adults under and over the age of 70, which suggests the changes occur early, Dixon said.

"There could be some ways to compensate for these declines, at least early and with proper management," he said.

Diabetes is known to raise the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer's. The high blood sugar levels caused by the condition can damage both blood vessels and nerves and lead to damage in many organs.

[NDM]

Can someone refresh my memory with what supps are good for preventing insulin resistance; the two I take specifically for this purpose are chromium picolinate 200 mcg and cinnamon extract 150 mg (alternating them every other day).

[FunkOdyssey]

Importantly, the implications here are not that diabetes causes alzheimer's but that beta amyloid plaque, which arises for different reasons, may exert its influence on cognition through what amounts to a form of diabetes. So you are left with some ideas for treatment, but this does not touch on causes or prevention.

This is personally a very interesting finding because people infected with borellia burgdorferi (Lyme Disease), one of the infectious agents that can produce an accumulation of beta amyloid plaque and has been found in the brains of alzheimer's patients, have almost universally abnormal SPECT scan results with reduced glucose uptake. It had been thought by some doctors to reflect a narrowing of blood vessels due to inflammation, but this seems like another plausible explanation, that accumulated beta amyloid could be knocking off insulin receptors and preventing glucose uptake that way.

I don't know how well any existing diabetes drugs would prevent this unique phenomenon -- beta amyloid toxicity to insulin receptors seems like a different animal.

Edited by FunkOdyssey, 04 January 2009 - 07:05 PM.

[david ellis]

Can someone refresh my memory with what supps are good for preventing insulin resistance; the two I take specifically for this purpose are chromium picolinate 200 mcg and cinnamon extract 150 mg (alternating them every other day).

Alpha Lipoic Acid moderates blood glucose, it is a prescription item in Europe for that use. Bitter Melon is also recommended. I thought Bitter Melon was very good, but I upped my Vitamin D intake at the same time I started Bitter Melon. I went to 10K IU/day to reach a target blood level of 55 ng/mL Vitamin D 25(OH). I think now that improved glucose control was probably an effect of reaching my target for vitamin D. I will discontinue Bitter Melon to see if Bitter Melon Extract makes a difference.

Edited by david ellis, 04 January 2009 - 07:08 PM.

[Mind]

Rising Blood Sugar May Harm the Aging Brain

I think this has been posted in one of the other threads, however it goes perfectly here as well.

Scientists have unmasked what appears to be a major mechanism contributing to normal, age-related cognitive decline.

Happily, it's a mechanism that is amenable to change: rising blood glucose levels, which means that exercise might be the antidote.

Researchers reporting in the December issue of Annals of Neurology showed that rising blood sugar levels, a normal part of aging, affect a part of the hippocampus, a part of the brain critical to learning and memory.

"This would suggest that anything to improve regulation of blood glucose would potentially be a way to ameliorate age-related memory decline," said senior study author Dr. Scott Small, an associate professor of neurology at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

Exercise is great, but how about limiting sugar and carb intake. Seems that would work as well.

[Mind]

A not so surprising link between diabetes and Alzheimer's

Dr. Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology, gerontology and preventative medicine at the University of Southern California, conducts research on interventions that may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent study, published in the January 2009 issue of the journal Diabetes, Dr. Gatz and her team tracked rates of dementia and diabetes in Swedish twins and discovered that developing type 2 diabetes before the age of 65 was associated with a 125 percent increased risk of subsequently developing Alzheimer’s disease.

[StrangeAeons]

On a slightly different note, how about doctors stop prescribing atypical antipsychotics, which have a nasty habit of inducing metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, to elderly patients with dementia? I'm pretty sick of transporting elderly people in the ambulance and finding Zyprexa and Abilify on their med list.

[niner]

On a slightly different note, how about doctors stop prescribing atypical antipsychotics, which have a nasty habit of inducing metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, to elderly patients with dementia? I'm pretty sick of transporting elderly people in the ambulance and finding Zyprexa and Abilify on their med list.

Well, this raises a question. Is it better to control the dementia with an atypical antipsychotic (assuming it works) and run a risk of inducing metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance? These conditions may contribute to the etiology of Alzheimer's, but the processes involved may take years or even decades to cause a problem. The demented elderly probably don't have all that long to live, and they already have dementia anyway, probably mostly due to Alzheimer's. It may be more important to treat the problem at hand than worry about a future scenario. If the atypical antipsychotics are causing a near-term problem, or are simply not improving the situation, that would be a different situation.

[StrangeAeons]

If they contribute to the etiology of Alzheimer's, then they are likely exacerbating the underlying issue but masking it symptomatically. The antipsychotics don't improve memory, far from it; instead they keep the behavioral aspects of the disorder under the control. This highlights the fact that since it has this effect in people without patent psychosis, it probably isn't targeting the pathophysiology underlying psychosis, either-- but that's a separate issue. If you're going to sacrifice long term health for short term gain, I would recommend implement growth hormone in the elderly-- something that improves their mobility. In my experience, both from having taken antipsychotics and from spending too much time picking up old people from nursing homes, these meds probably do a good deal to make the patient docile but don't seem to really improve their quality of life. I think this measure is just used to make it easier for the caretakers.
Oh, btw, what do you guys think of ladostigil?

[niner]

In my experience, both from having taken antipsychotics and from spending too much time picking up old people from nursing homes, these meds probably do a good deal to make the patient docile but don't seem to really improve their quality of life. I think this measure is just used to make it easier for the caretakers.

What do the patients think of the drugs? (Assuming they are even aware that they're getting them...) I think you are probably correct that patient docility is driving a lot of this.

[DukeNukem]

A not so surprising link between diabetes and Alzheimer's

Dr. Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology, gerontology and preventative medicine at the University of Southern California, conducts research on interventions that may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent study, published in the January 2009 issue of the journal Diabetes, Dr. Gatz and her team tracked rates of dementia and diabetes in Swedish twins and discovered that developing type 2 diabetes before the age of 65 was associated with a 125 percent increased risk of subsequently developing Alzheimer’s disease.

I think that most diseases pretty much boil down to a very small number of root causes, such as chronic over consumption of fructose, high-glucose carbs, and inflammatory foods. These handful of root causes along with genetic variation among humans, and unique exposure to environment toxins, are what lead to most modern diseases. Due to the randomness inherent in these root cause factors, we see a wide range of disease manifestations. But, again, the root causes are limited, and many are with our control.

[VespeneGas]

@ PetaKiaRose -

I just read an article in Clinician magazine the other day which cited a major study of antipsychotic prescription dispensation in nursing homes. They concluded that antipsychotics increased chance of death by increasing the risk of fall/fracture via DA antagonist coordination/movement issues. IMHO, it's a crime that they're so overprescribed, when gentler drugs (benzos maybe) can manage the symptoms without contributing to the dementia.

[ihatesnow]

http://www.delano.co...d-diabetes.html

[Mind]

Higher blood sugar levels linked to lower brain function in diabetics, study shows

The ongoing Memory in Diabetes (MIND) study, a sub-study of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Trial (ACCORD), found a statistically significant inverse relationship between A1C levels (average blood glucose levels over a period of two to three months) and subjects' scores on four cognitive tests. No association, however, was found between daily blood glucose levels (measured by the fasting plasma glucose test) and test scores.

Another reason to not over do it on carbs.

[Mind]

Connections Between Diabetes And Alzheimer’s Disease Explored

Very in depth look at all the connections between the two. This is really not very surprising to me. Being an avid reader of the Imminst forums for many years, it is common sense that age-related diseases are, well... related. The underlying damage created by metabolism in every cell of our bodies manifests itself in age-related pathology/disease in every organ. If your metabolism is warped or malfunctioning by lack of a proper diet or exercise, then you will probably suffer age-related diseases to a greater extent. (inductive logic here...I know, but makes intuitive sense.)

Daniel Kopf and Lutz Frölich report a systematic review of fourteen studies that examined the risk of incident Alzheimer’s disease in diabetic patients. All studies reported risk ratios greater than one with four studies showing statistically significant excess risk.

José A. Luchsinger and Deborah R. Gustafson present a comprehensive review of the epidemiologic evidence linking the continuum of adiposity and T2D with AD. The mechanisms relating adiposity and T2D to AD may include hyperinsulinemia, advanced products of glycosylation, cerebrovascular disease, and products of adipose tissue metabolism. The implication of these associations is that a large proportion of the world population may be at increased risk of AD given the trends for increasing prevalence of overweight, obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and T2D.

(do yourself a favor, get rid of your white adipose tissue)

V. Prakash Reddy, Xiongwei Zhu, George Perry, and Mark A. Smith discuss how oxidative stress plays a major role in diabetes as well as in Alzheimer’s disease and other related neurological diseases. The advanced glycation end products and lipid peroxidation products are ubiquitous to diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease and serve as markers of disease progression in both disorders.

[Mind]

Obesity linked with Alzheimer's.

I know this was posted elsewhere but it definitely belongs here as well. It should come as no surprise to people who read these forums that Obesity, Diabetes, and Alzheimer's are linked.

Obesity is on a rampage, with the World Health Organization pegging the numbers at more than 300 million worldwide, with a billion more overweight. With obesity comes the increased risk for cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, and hypertension.

Now comes more discouraging news. In the current online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping, Paul Thompson, senior author and a UCLA professor of neurology, and lead author Cyrus A. Raji, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues compared the brains of people who were obese, overweight, and of normal weight, to see if they had differences in brain structure; that is, did their brains look equally healthy.

They found that obese people had 8 percent less brain tissue than people with normal weight, while overweight people had 4 percent less tissue. According to Thompson, who is also a member of UCLA's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, this is the first time anyone has established a link between being overweight and having what he describes as "severe brain degeneration."

"That's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases that attack the brain," said Thompson. "But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer's, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control."