Alzheimer's Disease Is 'Brain' Diabetes (article and video)

August 8, 2012

Preparing meals for seniors should include coconut oil.

New Research Continues to Show Alzheimer’s is a Type 3 Diabetes

Health Impact News Editor Comments: A new study done at Rhode Island Hospital continues to confirm that Alzheimer’s Disease has a strong link to brain insulin resistance, or type 3 diabetes. Since the National Institute of Health financed the study, we can probably expect people with Alzheimer’s to now be prescribed even more drugs, the same drugs that are prescribed for type 2 diabetes.

Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies have a terrible track record when it comes to diabetes drugs. The drug Actos, a drug that France and Germany pulled from the market a year ago after it was found to cause bladder cancer and tumors in people using it for type 2 diabetes, is a drug still found in the market in the United States. Since the FDA has not pulled it off of the market in the US, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed, including one from a whistle blower claiming the manufacturer “is benefiting in tens of billions of dollars in sales at the expense of the lives of people still taking the drug.” Another diabetes drug,Avandia, was removed from pharmacies because it led to increased heart attacks killing thousands of people.

Today’s senior citizens living in managed care facilities are taking an average of over 30 different prescription drugs! The one class of drug that is prescribed the most, statin drugs to lower cholesterol, is linked to increasing the incidence of Alzheimer’s by starving the brain of needed cholesterol. Another side effect of statin drugs is: diabetes! (See: Statin Drugs Shown to Increase Risk of Diabetes Significantly, Yet the Media Scramble to Protect the Drugs’ Reputation; FDA Admits Statins Cause Memory Loss, Liver Damage, and Diabetes; and Lower Your Cholesterol, Increase Your Diabetes Risk By 48%) One out of every four Americans over the age of 55 is currently taking statin drugs.

So while it is positive to see studies like this help us understand some of the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease, turning to drugs to treat these symptoms is heading in wrong direction. Type 2 and type 3 diabetes is a lifestyle issue, and can be controlled or even prevented by dietary choices and avoiding too many drugs. There has also been tremendous success in controlling and eliminating diabetes through a low-carb and high fat diet (see: The Positive Effects of Low-Carbohydrate High Saturated Fat Diets on Diabetes;  Study finds that patients with diabetes can discontinue their medication if they follow a low carb, ketogenic diet; and Ketogenic Diet for Remission in Type 1 Diabetes).

Given all the evidence regarding insulin resistance, diabetes, and the link to Alzheimer’s, it is not surprising that people are reporting incredible benefits from consuming coconut oil. (See: Coconut Oil and Diabetes and Coconut Oil and Alzheimer’s)

For an excellent round table discussion concerning insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s, including the success of coconut oil and a low-carb high-fat diet, watch the following video with 5 medical doctors, Gary Taubes, and Robb Wolf (Article here):

Rhode Island Hospital Study Finds Link Between Brain Insulin Resistance and Neuronal Stress in Worsening Alzheimer’s Disease

Rhode Island Hospital researcher Suzanne de la Monte, M.D., has found a link between brain insulin resistance (diabetes) and two other key mediators of neuronal injury that help Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to propagate. The research found that once AD is established, therapeutic efforts must also work to reduce toxin production in the brain. The study, Dysfunctional Pro-Ceramide, ER Stress, and Insulin/IGF Signaling Networks with Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease, is published in the June 22, 2012, supplement of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common degenerative dementias, and more than 115 million new cases are projected worldwide in the next 40 years. There is clinical and experimental evidence that treatment with insulin or insulin sensitizer agents can enhance cognitive function and in some circumstances help slow the rate of cognitive decline in AD. Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases destroy the brain until the patients finally succumb. In order to effectively halt the process of neurodegeneration, the forces that advance and perpetuate the disease, particularly with regard to the progressive worsening of brain insulin/IGF resistance, must be understood.

“Brain insulin resistance (diabetes) is very much like regular diabetes,” de la Monte said. “Since the underlying problems continue to be just about the same, we believe that the development of new therapies would be applicable for all types of diabetes, including Alzheimer’s disease, which we refer to as Type III diabetes.”

Read the Full Article Here: http://www.rhodeislandhospital.org/wtn/Page.asp?PageID=WTN000249