The research was led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Study authors found mice with Alzheimer’s disease presented insulin resistance in the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that regulates metabolism of nutrients, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes. The mice also showed elevated levels of branched chain amino acids in the blood, a sign that could serve as a biomarker of impaired brain insulin signaling.
“This is the first study to suggest that Alzheimer’s disease pathology increases susceptibility to diabetes due to impaired insulin signaling in the hypothalamus,” said lead author Christoph Buettner, MD, PhD. “Our research provides a rationale that therapies developed to improve insulin signaling in the brain may reduce the likelihood that a patient with Alzheimer’s disease develops diabetes.”
The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the American Diabetes Association.
More articles on diabetes:
Global diabetes rate quadruples in last 25 years
Diabetes prevention: How one YMCA program is changing the game
Medicare might begin funding prevention services for prediabetes patients
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