Recent media headlines are linking Alzheimer’s to Type 3 Diabetes.
Is Alzheimer’s Type 3 Diabetes?
Is Alzheimer’s caused by a poor diet?
New research claims that all the sugars (carbohydrates and fructose) we ingest causes insulin production to spike, which can’t be sustained for long resulting in low insulin levels, which impair brain function.
Read Alzheimer’s May be Caused by Poor Diet. [TCV Update 3/3/2023: This article at the Mercola website is no longer directly accessible.] The article’s author, Dr. Mercola, [TCV Update 3/3/2023: URL updated] asks, “Can you eat your way to Alzheimer’s? He suggests that Alzheimer’s may be “brain diabetes” and offers tips for “avoiding” Alzheimer’s in the section, “More Tips for Avoiding Alzheimer’s Disease.” Some of Mercola’s tips regarding avoiding deodorants and mercury fillings are open to debate. (Aluminum may no longer be used in deodorants and mercury fillings seem to affect a small fraction of people with certain allergies.) But the rest of his tips—antioxidants in blueberries and exercise, make good health sense.
Also read Alzheimer’s: Is it a new type of diabetes? [TCV Update 10/20/2020 URL no longer available.] and High-carb diet is linked to early Alzheimer’s.
When I reflect on my father’s diet, he ate poorly, mostly hot dogs and bologna sandwiches. Still, he was not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s until his late 80s. Whether people like him are the exception, we do not yet know. The factors contributing to Alzheimer’s are complex.
Whether Dr. Mercola or these other researchers are onto something remains to be seen. At least, we open our eyes when we look at different approaches. And we can only hope they will make a grand discovery that will eradicate this epidemic.
What do you think?
Brenda Avadian, MA
The Caregiver’s Voice
