Effects of Diabetes on the Mind

Diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, is a disorder that affects the metabolism and impairs the body from producing the metabolic hormone insulin. Although the disease is primarily looked at in the ways in can affect the body's digestive and hormonal pathways, increasing evidence shows that diabetes has direct and serious effects on the mind as well. Because there is still so much research to be done on diabetes, the full effects of the condition may not be known for some time.

Alzheimer's

• For years, scientists and doctors have studied Alzheimer's disease with a curious interest. It is one of the more baffling diseases of our time, with the only sure thing being that it most commonly affects older people. However, new studies have begun to show a parallel between diabetes and the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Although research is inconclusive when it comes to why there may be a correlation, the facts seem to bear that Alzheimer's is much more common in diabetics than in those without the disease.

Degeneration

• A recent study of Japanese-American men in the United States used MRI technology to look for signs of brain aging as the men grew older. Approximately 1/3 of these participants had diabetes. What the study showed was that those participants with the condition were two times more likely to show vascular brain deficits than those without. There was also some correlation between how long a participant had lived with diabetes and the rate at which brain degeneration occurred.

Insulin and the Brain

• Doctors believe that insulin--thought previously only to affect food processing, energy and the glands--may also be tied to important brain functions. For certain, insulin and glucose are incomparably important for cell survival in the brain, as well as elsewhere in the body. There is also reason to believe that chronic incidents in which blood glucose levels drop to unsafe levels could lead to irreversible brain damage.

Stroke

• Diabetes is closely related to stroke, because when the oxygen supply to the brain is cut off due to arteries being blocked, this oxygen takes a new pathway to get where it needs to go. However, in someone with diabetes, this new pathway is often blocked as well, due to atherosclerosis. This not only increases the chance of stroke, but makes the outcome of a stroke (i.e., recovery and survival rates) worse as well.

Prevention/Solution

• Insulin treatments are available through a doctor's care, but there are also things a person with diabetes can do on his own to improve his chances of living comfortably with the condition, as well as decrease the odds of having it negatively affect his brain functions. This includes getting plenty of exercise, eating whole wheat and other low GI carbohydrates, and increasing the amounts of Omega-3s in his diet (through supplements or fish).