Scientists from international and renowned institutes are investigating the connection between dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, and disturbed glucose metabolism in the brain and believe that they might very slowly be able to track down the cause. They wonder whether this might lead to new therapeutic approaches. Data collected by different research teams suggest that this might be the case because one thing is clear in any case: diabetes patients suffer more often from dementia and Alzheimer’s than healthy people. Scientists, therefore, suspect brain-specific insulin resistance as the cause of brain-specific diseases, which could then be described as type 3 diabetes. Well-Adjusted diabetes will, in any case, reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers say. Diabetes is, therefore, a decisive risk factor. However, there are a number of other factors that have been tested in animal experiments on mice, for example. Another risk factor that the scientists are currently investigating in studies is sleep disorders. Deposits form in the brain of dementia patients, known as plaques and tangles, which can also disturb sleep. In any case, sleep loss and pathological processes in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients seem to add up, which then manifest themselves and lead to a downward spiral. To counteract all this, research teams are experimenting with anti-diabetes drugs to maintain brain health or halt the disease. The transport of glucose (dextrose) in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients, according to one theory, might also be disturbed. However, inflammation could also be one of the causes. In clinical studies, the testing of diabetes drugs has only just begun. The diabetes drug studies are still inconsistent. However, it is clear that antidiabetics such as insulin could be promising. Metformin is an oral antidiabetic also shows good tolerability in tests, both in diabetics and non-diabetics. Studies have also been conducted with intranasal insulin applicators, but with varying success depending on the applicator used, reports Dr. Suzanne Craft of the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at Wake Forest Medical School in North Carolina, where Professor Dr. Shannon Macauley is also conducting research on the topic. Not to be neglected is the large topic of the lifestyle of the affected person. Here, too, it has been shown that sport increases cognitive perception and improves insulin sensitivity. But also certain forms of nutrition, such as the Mediterranean-ketogenic diet with almost complete renunciation of carbohydrate-containing foods, have already shown success in the fight against dementia.
