Guest guest Posted December 28, 2006 Report Share Posted December 28, 2006 This is from “Diabetes Control.com” Diabetes In Control - Deadly Connection Between Diabetes and Alzheimer’s and Dementia a0e9150d frame Advertisement aserver/adimage.php?filename=leve6i0063_r12_468x60x1_c7 a0e9150d frame end December 27, 2006 Home · About Us · Advertise · Classifieds · Current News · Downloads · Education · Features · Feedback · Links · New Products · Past Newsletters · Recommend Us · Search · Show All Stories · Studies · Subscribe · Test Your Knowledge · Tools For Your Practice · Writers Archives · Search Our Archives · NewsFeed Special Offers aserver/adview Test Your Knowledge View our Test Your Knowledge Section Special Offers aserver/adview Tools Visit our Tools for your Practice Section Special Offers Macromedia Flash Movie Start Embedded Macromedia Flash Movie Macromedia Flash Movie end Print The Newsletter Print This Weeks Newsletter Here Newsletter is in Adobe format If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for Free here. Adobe format click here. acrobat/readstep Special Offers aserver/adview Items for the Week: Deadly Connection Between Diabetes and Alzheimer’s and Dementia on Tuesday, December 19 @ 11:22:26 CST AGEs form in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers early in the disease process and elevated blood sugars in those with diabetes increase the formation of AGEs. With skyrocketing incidence rates that are expected to soar even higher in the future, diabetes is rapidly transforming the health landscape of the United States and other Western nations. It is no exaggeration to say that diabetes now looms as one of the most costly, destructive medical epidemics of the early 21st century. New research suggests that those with insulin resistance or diabetes are at significantly higher risk of developing one of today’s most devastating and incurable neurological disorders: Alzheimer’s disease. The emerging connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s is yet another compelling reason for those who value their health to address issues of impaired insulin sensitivity before it is too late. Although diabetes is an emerging epidemic, it is also wholly preventable and reversible through strategies that incorporate dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, and nutritional supplementation. Achieving and maintaining optimal blood sugar and insulin sensitivity may thus be one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself against an array of life-threatening conditions—including diabetes and mind-destroying dementia. The many ways in which insulin resistance and diabetes can damage one’s health are now widely recognized by most doctors. High blood sugar can damage your blood vessels and nerves, which in turn can lead to such debilitations as blindness, kidney damage, and heart disease, and eventually to an early death. However, what many mainstream physicians may not be aware of is that diabetes can also lead to the formation of damaging substances known as advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. Advanced glycation end products are sugar-derived substances that form in the human body through the interaction between carbohydrates and proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids such as DNA. Once formed, AGEs adversely affect the structure and function of proteins and the tissues that contain these proteins... Recent studies have shown that both the formation and accumulation of AGEs are enhanced in diabetes. These proteins damaged by the glycation process may thus play an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications—and, as we shall see, in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Advanced glycation end products become even more destructive when coupled with free radicals formed during cellular energy production. These highly reactive agents produce oxidative stress that can cause cellular damage. Researchers now believe that oxidative stress may be involved in the formation of advanced glycation end products, which in turn may induce even more oxidative stress. In fact, most AGEs that accumulate in proteins are produced under conditions of high oxidative stress. New evidence shows that oxidative stress may be an important causative factor in both insulin resistance and type II diabetes. Alzheimer’s disease now affects more than 15 million people worldwide. With the rapid aging of society (an estimated 30 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 or older by 2050), upwards of 14 million Americans are projected to develop Alzheimer’s in the coming decades. While medical researchers have yet to pinpoint a single cause of Alzheimer’s disease, they have uncovered some of the basic biochemical processes that underlie the hallmark mental changes seen in Alzheimer’s. First, Alzheimer’s sufferers exhibit a marked decline in levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter... that is vitally important to memory formation and retention in certain regions of the brain. Second, Alzheimer’s patients demonstrate an accumulation of harmful beta amyloid deposits, or senile plaques, in the brain. Third, brain autopsies of Alzheimer’s patients show signs of significant oxidative damage induced by free radicals. Finally, new research indicates that advanced glycation end products may also initiate this dreaded condition. A newly published review article examines the role of AGEs and oxidative stress in Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists found that advanced glycation end products were present in higher amounts in the biopsied brains of patients who had died from Alzheimer’s than in those who died from other causes. They also presented evidence that AGEs form in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers early in the disease process. Weili Xu – Borderline Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer Disease: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study (Funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Gamla Tjänarinnor Foundation, Swedish Research Council) A. Whitmer – Glycemic Control and Risk of Dementia in a Cohort of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (Funder: NIDDK/NIH) Michal Schnaider Beeri – Advanced Glycation Is Associated with Cognitive Impairment in Very Old Women (Funder: NIA/NIH) Diabetes Care 2006;29:2728-2729. ================================ Start your own walking program New StepTracker Available at special prices. See the results of the Step Program Study. http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/programs/steps/index.shtml Purchase your own pedometers and receive the Steps to Health Program at no charge. http://www.rx4betterhealth.com/steptracker/ The Only Pedometer on the Market That Comes With a Program for Success! =========================== DID YOU KNOW: Hospitalization of Obese Patients More than Doubles: Hospital stays of obese patients increased by 112 percent between 1996 and 2004, rising from 797,000 to 1.7 million, according to a new report by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The federal study looked at the hospital stays of patients who were admitted for their obesity and the stays of obese patients hospitalized for other diseases. Based on findings in Obese Patients in U.S. Hospitals, 2004, HCUP Statistical Brief # 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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