About Alzheimer's Disease And Type 3 Diabetes
Type 3 diabetes is the rarest kind of diabetes you can get. The brain has been discovered to produce insulin, when previously it was thought only the pancreas did. Some researchers and scientists think that the much feared Alzheimer's disease may be a variant of Type 3 diabetes. Studies done at Northwestern University and the University of Kansas Medical center are finding a lot of correlations. The hope is that Type 3 diabetes treatments might also help for Alzheimer's patients.
Plaque Build Up
Although more studies still need to be done, the theory linking Alzheimer's disease and Type 3 diabetes goes something like this; insulin signaling is a vital component of a working memory. When your blood sugar dips or rises way too high, you often become disoriented before falling into a diabetic coma. The brains of Alzheimer's patients cannot seem to recognize insulin. Insulin is supposed to be picked up by insulin receptors and then transmitted to various parts of the brain to give it energy. But, for some reason, this is not happening.
There is a build up of plaque in the brains of Alzheimer's patients that are made up of amyloid beta-derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs). These ADDLs seem to make insulin receptors in brain cells run away. The hope is that reducing the ADDL plaque build up will help make a patient a lot better. This is still a theory, but being a lot of money to either prove or disprove it - that means this theory is being taken seriously.
Who Can Get This?
Type 3 diabetes was only discovered in 2005, so we don't know as much about it as we do for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Sometimes you might hear the media or a doctor refer to "double diabetes", which is another name for Type 3 diabetes. Unlike the other two kinds of diabetes, Type 3 diabetes does not affect your blood sugar. It affects your brain sugar.
The brain needs insulin to keep making new brain cells. Without insulin, the brain, well, dies. Many Alzheimer's patients also have diabetes (of any type) and Type 3 diabetes was discovered as a result of Alzheimer's research. It is thought that if you already have Type 1 or 2 diabetes, you are 65% more likely to get Alzheimer's, or Type 3 Diabetes, whatever you want to call it.
We still do not know what causes Alzheimer's, but studies suggest that closely controlling your diabetes may help you NOT get Alzheimer's. Hopefully, we will know more in the coming years.
