A new study out his week gives more evidence that there is a connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. The study found that the link is most likely established because of the way diabetes affects the body’s circulatory system, especially in this case in the brain.
According to Dr. Viatcheslav Wlassoff, PhD, “Diabetes affects the blood vessels and nerves of the body and causes long-term complications. During the early stages of disease, the damage caused by the high blood sugar level is not very obvious but after several years of poorly controlled diabetes, every organ of the body starts to show the signs and symptoms of disease-related deterioration.”
This is an important point, according to the study. The further diabetes progresses, the more damage is done to the body’s blood vessels, which can lead to the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Wlassoff continues: “The reason [for the development of dementia] seems straight forward: like any other blood vessel in the body, the cerebral blood vessels that nourish the brain are damaged by the excess of blood sugar. The damaged blood vessels fail to nourish the brain cells effectively thus leading to increased cell mortality and development of dementia symptoms.”
But what does that have to do with Alzheimer’s?
According to some recent studies, Alzheimer’s has been shown to be very similar to diabetes. The reasons that they are so similar are complicated, but to try to explain it in layman’s terms, the two diseases share similar markers, which lead doctors to suggest that the two diseases are just offshoots of one another.
This study suggests that the development of dementia because of diabetes, and the development of Alzheimer’s are two very similar processes that may be caused by similar internal and external factors, including obesity and diet.
Obviously this will continue to be an interesting area of study for years to come.
