The thought that sugar could cause Alzheimer’s might sound a bit far-fetched, but scientists are beginning to uncover links between our sugar consumption and Alzheimer’s disease, so much so, that they are beginning to call Alzheimer’s disease Diabetes Type 3.

Good Reasons to Look out for Your Brain

When people list their fears, death and public speaking are always at the top. But what people fear even more than death is the loss of their mental capabilities. Most people, for example, would choose death over forgetting loved ones, needing someone to tie their shoes or dress them, or especially needing someone to help them to the bathroom.

While scientists are still puzzling over the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s disease, a few recent discoveries have uncovered the connection between the sugar we put in our mouths and the loss of memory later in life.

While the studies are not conclusive, think about what this connection might mean: We all have it in our hands to prevent this awful disease from happening to us.

New Scientific Discoveries

Here is what scientists have discovered about Alzheimer’s and sugar:

·    Brain Insulin: Our brains produce insulin. This is an amazing discovery; the pancreas was thought to be the only organ in the body that produced insulin.

·    Brain Insulin Plummets: Scientists have discovered that people with Alzheimer’s disease show a dramatic drop in the amount of insulin in their brains. The scientists are even discussing using the amount of insulin in the brain as a way to tract the progression of the disease. Early in the disease, brain insulin is high and then drops as the disease gets worse. This drop in brain insulin, by the way, mimics what happens in the rest of the body when someone gets diabetes.

·    Insulin is not alone: Insulin does not travel alone in the body, it has “friends”. There are other factors in the brain called insulin-like growth factors and these factors decrease when insulin decreases. It is the loss of these insulin-like growth factors that are thought to lead to brain cell death and the shrinking of the brain seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

Alzheimer’s Sugar Connection

The connection between Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes has been known for a long time. If you have diabetes, you have a much greater risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists, though, caution that we need to recognize that they are two distinct diseases: There are people with diabetes who don’t have Alzheimer’s disease and vice-versa. The diseases are related but not the same disease. 

The big question about the sugar connection to Alzheimer’s disease is what causes the insulin in the brain to drop in the first place? If the drop in insulin in the brain mimics the drop in people with diabetes, then the amount of sugar we are all eating is suspect.

Insulin is the hormone that regulates sugar throughout the body and the pancreas gets “burned out” by always trying to keep up with the large amount of sugar most of us eat. The same may be true of the brain.

Save Your Brain

If your sugar consumption is responsible for your brain deteriorating later in life, then you now have the power to change what is going to happen to you later in life. Think about how powerful that is: Dietary changes can alter your whole life.

Quitting sugar and foods that act like sugar is no small tasks. One of the best ways to kick the sugar habit is to try my 30 Sugar Free Day Challenge and begin moving towards a more balanced and healthy way to eat.

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