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Impaired Insulin Response Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

elderly, Alzheimer‘s diseaseImpaired insulin response appears to be involved in the development of Alzheimer‘s disease, according to a long-term population-based study.

Researchers analyzed data for more than 2,200 men who underwent glucose tolerance testing at the age of 50. After a follow-up at an average age of 32 years, 394 men developed dementia or mental impairments, including 102 with confirmed Alzheimer‘s disease and 57 with confirmed vascular dementia.

A low insulin response at the beginning of the study was associated with a 30 percent higher risk of Alzheimer‘s disease. Overall dementia and cognitive risks were associated with high fasting serum insulin, insulin resistance, impaired insulin secretion, and glucose intolerance.

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Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Alzheimer’s disease is increasingly being called a third form of diabetes, and this study lends further support to this theory.

Along with your pancreas, your brain also produces insulin. Insulin and insulin receptors in your brain are crucial for learning and memory, and it’s known that these components are lower in people with Alzheimer’s disease. In your brain, insulin binds to an insulin receptor at a synapse, which triggers a mechanism that allows nerve cells to survive and memories to form.

However, researchers have found that a toxic protein in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients -- called ADDL -- removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, and renders those neurons insulin resistant.

It has been suggested that ADDLs accumulate at the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease and thereby block memory function.

There is even a test that measures ADDL in your spinal fluid that claims to detect Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages.

Of course, what you want is to prevent Alzheimer’s disease from occurring at all, and this is entirely possible.

You Can Prevent Alzheimer’s and Diabetes at the Same Time

That’s because three of the most important methods I recommend to prevent Alzheimer’s disease are identical to those recommended to prevent diabetes. How can this be? Because the single most important physical factor that is responsible for accelerating nearly every chronic disease known to man is to normalize your insulin and leptin levels.

And you can do this by:

1. Exercising. Exercise protects your brain just as it protects the rest of your body from diabetes.

2. Eating a nutritious diet that’s right for your nutritional type.

3. Getting plenty of high-quality omega-3 in your diet, such as by taking a krill oil supplement. A diet rich in omega-3 fats has been found to ward off both Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

4. If you are having a hard time getting yourself to exercise or following the diet I recommend, then use the hypnosis program I recommend to stop cravings and increase your motivation to eat right and exercise more.

By 2050, it’s estimated that a full 10 million U.S. “baby boomers” will have come down with Alzheimer’s, which translates to 1 out of 8!

This is NOT supposed to be happening, as your brain is capable of remaining fully functional no matter what your age is. That is, as long as you take care of it. So in addition to the three important tips above, what else can you do to keep Alzheimer’s away?
  • Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my Total Health Program, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
ONLY see a high-quality, biologically trained dentist who knows what they’re doing, or your health could get ruined.
  • Avoid aluminum, such as in antiperspirants, cookware, etc.
  • Avoid flu vaccinations as they contain both mercury and aluminum!
  • Eat wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content that are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
  • Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (20)
 
 
Posted On May 03, 2008

There are many degenerative disorders. Type II diabletes, osteo arthritis, arterioscletosis, neurodegernerative (ie "old timers" disease)...

Not to be too simplistic, many problems, one cause.

a junk lifestyle will result in some kind of problem, genetics may decide what hits you first.

There are lots of specific solutions for specific problems. As people live longer, something is going to get you for sure, however...

one healthy lifestyle will prevent most of the problems that are now taken for granted.

There is an old Naturopathic bumper sticker philosophy...S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) for short life, long death; Natural Lifestyle for Long Life, Short Death


 
Dr Rik
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 11/2006
Dr Rik  
 
 
 
Posted On Apr 11, 2008
Insulin could very well be a factor. That would certainly be helpful to know. However, I think studies like these steer focus away from some  real culprits, processed foods with fake sugars, MSG and all the other crap, vaccines, environmental pollutants, lack of exercise, and possibly excessive television viewing. I think that way too often scientific studies (at least with health) are way to narrow. Researchers are looking for that magic bullet. With health it is usually multi factorial.

 
bmc
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 2/2007
bmc  
Replied

DDS_203
Novice User Novice User Joined On 1/2008
DDS_203  
 
Posted On May 03, 2008

I agree, in fact if you read the article sited above you will see it was incomplete in so far as details and controls.  And one study does not a reliable conclusion make.


 
 
 
Posted On May 03, 2008

There is not a city dump in the US that it is legal to discard old amalgam fillings.The dentist would go to jail if caught.


 
dr.clark monahan
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 6/2007
dr.clark monahan  
 
 
 
Posted On Apr 11, 2008
Insulin related problems are typically brought on my a poor diet - high sugar, fake sugar, High-fructose corn syrup etc...  The spike of sugar in the blood induces an insulin response because the body needs homeostasis (esp in the blood).  Too much insulin swimming around in the body can induce insulin resistance and or the pancreas can fatigue (reponsible for the release of insulin) and produce too little etc etc...

I hate to see an AD med that acts on insulin, instead of just helping people change their diet.

 
HealthCoachSandraG
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 3/2008
HealthCoachSandraG  
Replied

green1_203
Novice User Novice User Joined On 1/2008
green1_203  
 
Posted On May 04, 2008

Insulin related problems are typically brought on by poor diet, but not always. I have one family member who has severe diabetes and Alzheimer's. She ate an almost perfect diet, exersised and is still thin. She just had too many pregnancies. She got gestational diabeties every time. This increases risk for full fledged diabeties. I also know several diabetics who were born with faulty pancreases. And there is my father that had a botched surgery that eventually led to the loss of most of his pancres.


 
 
 
Posted On May 03, 2008

We are what we eat.  Rudy Tanzi received a Noble Prize for discovering that Alzheimer's is a build up of amyloid plaque at the blood brain barrier.  He examined the histo pathological slides of people with all forms of dementia.  Dr Alzheimer described 50 year old women who were lost in their own minds in 1906.  These were German women and we can only assume that their diet was fed with chemical fertilizers first made from coal tar in 1860.

These crackled forms of fertilizers had the sulfur of the coal tar vaporized just as todays crude oil based fertilizers are also devoid of sulfur.  Following Pauling's reference to mineral deficiency could  this lack of sulfur in our diets could be responsible for the build up of amyloid plaque at the blood brain barrier?  Our research of sulfur has demonstrated the cessation of oral meds for type II diabetes.  Could sulfur be necessary for insulin production?  What we feel important in the discussion of dementia whether vascular or the buildup of amyloid plaque at the blood brain barrier is the the time line of what we have done to our food supply esp. regarding the minerals available in the soils they are grown.  We only have had only one Study member who has regained her memory after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's for 11 years.  She is the only person in our Study who had been diagnosed with this form of dementia.  Is sulfur a compliment of all of Dr Mercola's suggestions?

Our suggestion would be to add organic sulfur to ones diet and see whether the symptoms are addressed.

We would encourage anyone interested to contact the our Study at organicsulfur@sisna.com  The time line

for the increase in Alzheimer's and the "we are what eat" factor deserves to be investigated.


 
Patrick McGean
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 12/2006
Patrick McGean  
 
 
 
 
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