Being overweight could increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease



Being overweight and having diabetes could increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease



BEING overweight has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, which will no doubt put more pressure on our ever-struggling NHS.

 

It's estimated one in every four adults in the UK is now obese, with one in every five children also carrying dangerous levels of fat. 

And a statistic has been revealed this morning setting fear into the hearts of those who carry extra weight: there is a link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. 

 

New research published in Diabetologia - a website publishing research into diabetes - has revealed insulin resistance may be one of the first signs of "cognitive decline" and therefore Alzheimer’s disease. 

The report reads: "Type 2 diabetes is an independent risk factor for cognitive decline."

 



One in every four adults in the UK is now obese



Worse still, it's said to affect women dramatically more than men. This is said to be because female brains are more vulnerable to insulin resistance than male brains. 

The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Turku in Finland, who tested the language skills and semantic memory of nearly 6000 men and women from the age of 30 to 97. 

Lead study author Laura Ekblad spoke about the results of the study, saying: "More and more evidence from studies on cellular mechanism show that insulin has specific and important effects on the brain. 

"When insulin resistance is present, there is too much insulin circulating in the blood flow, which leads to a reduced transportation of insulin to the brain."

 

Keeping an eye on your waistline will help keep your blood sugars down

She added: "Previous studies show that reduced brain insulin levels can directly contribute to cognitive decline and the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease in multiple ways."

This is worrying because the rise in overweight people developing diabetes is ever-increasing. 

A whopping one in three adults have been diagnosed with prediabetes. This is a condition in where the body’s blood sugar levels are too high, but not high enough to be classified as diabetic. 

There is a message coming through this interesting research Brits all need to read. Want to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease? Simple: reduce your risk of diabetes.