Monday, September 24, 2012

Junk Food and Alzheimer's - Yet Another Link to Diet

This very interesting article was recently passed on to me and I thought it was worth a share.  It explores the potential link between junk food (synonymous with high fructose corn syrup and unhealthy fats) and Alzheimer's Disease/dementia (AD). 

There has been a lot of research done in the area of insulin and AD, focusing on AD as primarily a metabolic disease.  These studies have shown that insulin and insulin-like growth factors are lower in the brains of people who died with AD compared to those that did not.  So why is insulin so important?  It is a hormone produced by the pancreas to prod the liver, muscles and fat tissues to absorb glucose (sugar) from the blood.  Following that logic, type 2 diabetes occurs in people who develop insulin resistance resulting in extremely high blood glucose levels that become toxic.  Researchers who examine AD as a metabolic disease believe AD may be the next type 3 diabetes.