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Health See other Health Articles Title: Insulin resistance increases risk for Alzheimer's AMES, Iowa, July 27 (UPI) -- Researchers found a strong link between insulin resistance, the use of blood sugar in the brain and the development of memory problems, increasing the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. Insulin resistance is common in people who are obese, pre-diabetic, or have type 2 diabetes. "If you don't have as much fuel, you're not going to be as adept at remembering something or doing something," Auriel Willette, a research scientist in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, said in a press release. "This is important with Alzheimer's disease, because over the course of the disease there is a progressive decrease in the amount of blood sugar used in certain brain regions. Those regions end up using less and less." Researchers examined the brain scans of 150 late middle-age adults with an average age of 60 who are at risk for developing Alhzeimer's disease but have not shown signs of memory loss, gave them cognitive tests and drew blood to check glucose and insulin levels. In most cases, the researchers reported that participants whose brain scans showed lower glucose metabolism also performed more poorly on cognitive tests. The areas of the brain showing lower glucose are the same ones that are the first to show shrinkage in Alzheimer's patients. "We are terrible at adjusting our behavior based on what might happen in the future," Willette said. "That's why people need to know that insulin resistance or related problems with metabolism can have an effect in the here and now on how they think, and it's important to treat. For Alzheimer's, it's not just people with Type 2 diabetes. Even people with mild or moderate insulin resistance who don't have Type 2 diabetes might have an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease because they're showing many of the same sorts of brain and memory relationships." The study is published in JAMA Neurology. Like Us on Facebook for more stories from UPI.com Related UPI Stories Memory, thinking tests may indicate Alzheimer's earlier than thought Blood pressure medication may lower Alzheimer's risk Promising Alzheimer's research stalled by lack of volunteers for studies Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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