Just in case you need another reason to cut back on sugar, it now turns out that Alzheimer’s could well be a form of diet-induced diabetes.
What Is Alzheimer’s?
A neuropathologist named Alois Alzheimer noticed, over a century ago, that a certain protein was taking the place of normal brain cells. How those proteins (beta amyloid plaques as they’re called) get there has been a mystery. What’s becoming clear, however, is that a lack of insulin — or insulin resistance — not only impairs brain function but seems to be implicated in the formation of those plaques.
The Diabetes/Dementia Link
We know that people with diabetes are at least twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s, and that obesity alone increases the risk of impaired brain function.
What’s new is the thought that while diabetes doesn’t “cause” Alzheimer’s, they have the same root: an over consumption of those “foods” that spike insulin. (Genetics have an effect on susceptibility, as they appear to with all environmental diseases.)
If the rate of Alzheimer’s rises in lockstep with Type 2 diabetes, which has nearly tripled in the United States in the last 40 years, we will shortly see a devastatingly high percentage of our population with not only failing bodies but also brains.
The link between diet and dementia negates our notion of Alzheimer’s as a condition that befalls us by chance. Adopting a sane diet, a diet contrary to the standard American diet (called SAD), would appear to give us a far better shot at avoiding diabetes in all of its forms, along with its dreaded complications.
CLICK HERE for PART 2 explaining how Alzheimer’s is considered Type 3 Diabetes.
