Unexpected

By | December 1, 2005
2 Comments

This is interesting:

Alzheimer’s disease may be a new, third type of diabetes that shares common features of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

Researchers found that insulin and the cells that process it in the brain drop sharply in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. They also found that insulin levels continue to decline as the disease progresses and becomes more severe.

Diabetes is a terrible disease, but it’s treatable. And in the case of type 2, sometimes preventable. This discovery could lead to some very positive developments.

Hat-tip: Transterrestrial Musings

  • AndrewS

    … but it’s treatable.

    Actually, it’s not. Not really. A healthy human body adjusts the level of insulin (and related factors) on an almost continuous basis. None of the current treatments (that I know of) even come close, and all of those blood sugar swings take a cumulative toll on the body.

  • http://triticale.mu.nu triticale

    Treatable is still a valid term even when far short of cureable. My wee wifey is Type 2, and gets by with Glucophage and some care in diet, my ex-daughter-in-law is Type 1, and both have lived far longer than the 1 year which was the average life expectancy before the discovery of insulin. Both of them work as aides in a nursing home; I’m sure they’ll find this interesting.

    If this research means that with daily action by a caregiver we can slow the onset of Alzheimers enough to give people a couple more good years before they can hide their own Easter eggs then it amounts to meaningful progress.