Alzheimer’s is the most common dementia disease and its incidence is rising worldwide. Estimates currently are that nearly 5.5million people in the US alone have Alzheimer’s.
Some specialists like to say the spectre of dementia lies over us all. It’s mostly a function of growing older, they say. Evidence suggests that’s not the case.
Studies show a powerful link between what you eat and your risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementia diseases. Research also shows that the pathway to Alzheimer’s is similar to that leading to type 2 diabetes. That’s why some doctors now call Alzheimer’s as ‘type 3 diabetes’.
In an article in Psychology Today, US psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist Dr Georgia Ede explains why preventing Alzheimer’s disease may be a whole lot easier than you think it is. – Marika Sboros
By Georgia Ede
Do you have insulin resistance? If you don’t know, you’re not alone. This is perhaps the single most important question any of us can ask about our physical and mental health. Yet most patients, and even many doctors, don’t know how to answer it.
Here in the US, insulin resistance has reached epidemic proportions: more than half of us are now insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is a hormonal condition that sets the stage throughout the body for inflammation and overgrowth, disrupts normal cholesterol and fat metabolism, and gradually destroys our ability to process carbohydrates.
Insulin resistance puts us at high risk for many undesirable diseases, including obesity, heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
Scarier still, researchers now understand that insulin resistance is a powerful force in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Insulin is a powerful metabolic hormone that orchestrates how cells access and process vital nutrients, including sugar (glucose). In the body, one of insulin’s responsibilities is to unlock muscle and fat cells so they can absorb glucose from the bloodstream. When you eat something sweet or starchy that causes your blood sugar to spike, the pancreas releases insulin to usher the excess glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells.
If blood sugar and insulin spike too high too often, cells will try to protect themselves from overexposure to insulin’s powerful effects by toning down their response to insulin. They become “insulin resistant.” In an effort to overcome this resistance, the pancreas releases even more insulin into the blood to keep glucose moving into cells.
Click here to read: CANCER: SEYFRIED ON REAL CAUSE, RIGHT DIET TO BEAT IT
The more insulin levels rise, the more insulin resistant cells become. Over time, this vicious cycle can lead to persistently elevated blood glucose levels, or type 2 diabetes.
In the brain, it’s a different story. The brain is an energy hog that demands a constant supply of glucose. Glucose can freely leave the bloodstream, waltz across the blood-brain barrier, and even enter most brain cells—no insulin required.
In fact, the level of glucose in the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding your brain is always about 60% as high as the level of glucose in your bloodstream —even if you have insulin resistance. So, the higher your blood sugar, the higher your brain sugar.
- Click here for a full version of Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease Is Easier Than You Think
- Listen to Dr Georgia Ede on Alzheimer’s Prevention and the Link to Insulin Resistance
The real problem is the current FDA Dietary Guidelines. Until we get this changed we are putting a band aid on a major bleed. It’s going to be a major fight to get this change, but we have to do it. The pain and suffering will only continue. We have to start early with education in our schools by changing the school lunch programs to really healthy LCHF foods. We have to shut down the fat factory.
How to know if the person is with insulin resistance?
Text and fasting insulin?
Now Britain’s Daily Mail (Sept 23) is promoting an LCHF diet to beat diabetes.
Marika, thank you for highlighting this and moving beyond the endless food wars discussions, now. There is no doubt that a ketogenic diet or at the very least a LCHF diet assists with brain function and helps reverse a myriad of chronic conditions. I have been following Dr. Ede’s articles and she is groundbreaking within the psych community. Dr Emily Deanes’ article, Your Brain on Ketones, is also a wonderful precis that we on the Big Banting Breakfast like to refer senior citizens to, as well as those who feel disposed to AD. Circadian desynchronicity is a cause of chronic illness and not just a symptom when it comes to diseases such as insulin resistance and AD. One cannot separate diet from lifestyle. Diet alone is not going to fix everything and/or prevent chronic diseases such as insulin resistance. A ketogenic or LCHF diet should be one of the tools in our arsenal of weapons against the rise of modern chronic illnesses.
Excellent point, Jason. Diet on its own isn’t going to work all that well if other lifestyle habits sabotage it.
Interesting. Not only do you lose weight and enjoy better health with a low carb / high fat diet or intermittent fasting, but you keep your brains, too!
You’ve hit the nail on nutrition head, here, Douglas!