Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance appear to raise the risk of developing the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, new research finds.
The study, published in Neurology, analyzed brain samples from deceased people who had undergone a glucose tolerance test prior when alive. Those with the highest blood glucose levels were six times more likely to develop plaques, even after controlling for risk factors including age, gender, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index, smoking, exercise and cerebrovascular disease, according to a summary in Diabetes Health.
Complicating the results, no relationship was found between diabetes-related factors and neurofibrillary tangles, which along with plaques are considered the two main causes of the damage to brain cells that Alzheimer’s causes.
The study also tested for the gene AppoE4, which has been linked to Alzheimer’s, finding that those subjects with the gene had the strongest association between high blood sugar levels, insulin resistance and fasting insulin levels and the development of plaques.
The results seem applicable to both type 2 and type 1 sufferers, and potentially to those with pre-diabetes, Diabetes Health says.
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