Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease
Did you know that about 30 million North Americans have diabetes? Also that millions of these people (about one-third) don’t yet know they have type 2 diabetes? How about that type 2 diabetes is a contributor to Alzheimer’s disease?
Insulin is a hormone created by the pancreas; its job is to process the body’s intake of food (which is turned into glucose) into energy to be used by the body’s cells, and it regulates the blood glucose level. If we have diabetes either we don’t produce insulin, or don’t produce enough insulin. And our cells cannot use insulin properly (people with type 2 diabetes don’t produce enough insulin, or their cells can’t use insulin suitably).
A Link To Brain Degeneration
If you have type 2 diabetes, no matter how much insulin is created in our body the cells are not able to use it, and too much glucose stays in our blood. This is toxic for our body. Overtime, this type of accumulated toxicity damages our organs such as the brain, and here we see a link to brain degeneration – Alzheimer’s disease.
Causes of type 2 diabetes are a family history of the disease and obesity (90% of people who have type 2 diabetes are overweight). The cause of obesity is overindulgence in rich foods, and lack of exercise.
We will see an early warning sign of type 2 diabetes development when we have high blood sugar. To control our weight and blood glucose levels (and to ward off diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease), we need to keep a healthy diet and a routine exercise daily. See Canada’s Food Guide for proper nutrition guidance.
Test your blood sugar regularly, and make sure your levels are normal.
Karen 🙂
Karen Tyrell, CDP
Personalized Dementia Solutions
Personalized Dementia Solutions
