We know that what we eat affects our health—it’s a no-brainer. And many of us realize how foods affect our mental health as well as our physical wellbeing. Most recently, scientists have begun to uncover the link between the modern diet and Alzheimer’s disease—specifically, how sugar consumption and Type 2 diabetes could be contributing to the declining mental health of our global population.
According to an article from Mother Jones, the Type 2 diabetes epidemic may be related to the growing number of elderly people suffering with Alzheimer’s.
Insulin regulates blood sugar, telling the body when to take sugar from the blood to use it for energy or store as fat. Insulin resistance (or pre-diabetes) happens when our cells stop responding to insulin. In turn, the pancreas produces more insulin in an effort to basically get the attention of these unresponsive cells, raising blood sugar levels and leading to Type 2 diabetes.
In addition to regulating blood sugar, however, insulin produced in the pancreas also regulates neurotransmitters “crucial for memory and learning.” Because of this and its importance in the function of blood vessels supplying the brain with oxygen, insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes can “immediately impair cognition.”
When your insulin spikes, your brain can’t keep up with the activity. As sort of a safety measure, it starts turning down insulin signaling to prevent brain damage. This impairs your cognitive abilities, affecting your thinking and your memory.
Another study links cognitive dysfunction with excess sugar consumption and substantiates the evidence that pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes and cognitive decline go hand-in-hand. According to UCLA scientists, rats fed a steady diet of fructose (found in table sugar and the vilified high-fructose corn syrup) developed both insulin resistance and impaired brain function in only six weeks. Six weeks is pretty fast when you consider a fall from your healthy habits could last this long.
So, what’s the bottom-line? Our physical health and our mental health are connected. One cannot separate the two and our foods have an immediate and dramatic impact on both. Maintaining proper physical health through good nutrition is, in essence, maintaining proper mental health through good nutrition.
Excerpt
We know that what we eat affects our health—it’s a no-brainer. And many of us realize how foods affect our mental health as well as our physical wellbeing. Most recently, scientists have begun to uncover the link between the modern diet and Alzheimer’s disease—specifically, how sugar consumption and Type 2 diabetes could be contributing to the declining mental health of our global population.
Well they will not be able to remember if they have it or not,
Recently we are reading and hearing more about how a Diabetes condition a body has acquired is contributing to an additional condition called Alzheimer’s Disease. That is an easy to make but disappointing popular media news headline for a very serious health challenge we all, I am sure, would like to avoid to the best of our abilities. It gives a very false impression for a possible easy cure.
Such statement is a rather reductionist (one-treatment) approach to health maintenance. The caustion should be that there is a lot more to be recognized as to the origins of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The space available here is limited. You are welcome to ask for a gratis, thorough explanations of the next listed conditions (and nutritional solutions) we all have to keep in mind to avoid having Alzheimer’s becoming a part of your or someone else’s life. Not to mention for the dedicated caretakers involved.
[email protected]
This list is likely not complete, as researchers are constantly trying to recognize other possible causes. It is also not listed in order of importance or causal seriousness, but some are interrelated, and I notice them with an asterisk (* or **).
Trauma to the head and neck region.
*Dental care and repair history, and your self care on a daily basis.
*Overall inflammation
**Self talk
**The Will to Live
Overeating
*The trillions of body cells’ outer membrane health
*Cellular starvation
*Oxygen starvation and carbon dioxide retention in our cells
*Blood glucose (sugar) starvation
**Certain brain protein deficiencies
**The inability to remove excess proteins out of the blood
Choline (a vitamin cousin of the Vit. B family) leakage
*Vit. B-12 deficiency
*The stomach’s ability to make digestion acids
Artificial sugars
Vitamin D-3 (!) deficiency
Radiation exposure, from dental or medical diagnostics, airline pilots, etc.
*Unhealthy, over-worked liver
*Low total cholesterol
**Pancreas not making endogenous enzymes, nor sodium bi-carbonate
**Mineral deficiencies
**Leaky Gut Syndrome, toxic exposure, toxic blood
Methylation problems (poor diet as main cause)
*Stress and resulting Thyroid / Adrenal Gland weakness
*Sleep problems
The future will tell us more…I am constantly adding more to my awareness.
Good health, I am Dr. Pieter Dahler, DDS, MD, ND (hon), PhD (ret)
I certainly respect a Dr.'s Opinion. But the warning that the consumption of increased sugar and a rich carb diet can have effects on illness has had many clinical trials and can not be simply ignored. It is true that once the signs of Alzheimer’s Disease surface, a great deal of brain damage has already happened, and any ability of a complete cure is almost close to Impossible.
Never the less,I have found that nutrition is a very important factor in almost all illness including Diabetics.
I have dedicated my web-site to what I have found in my search. I am not a Doctor, I am an LPN nurse only, but I do think Doctors should look a little closer at what you eat and how it may result in making you sick. It may not be the 100% cause but it certainly has a major impact on your bodies health.