Posted on 07/16/2006 7:03:22 PM PDT by neverdem
Several new studies suggest that diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, adding to a store of evidence that links the disorders. The studies involve only Type 2 diabetes, the most common type, which is usually related to obesity.
The connection raises an ominous prospect: that increases in diabetes, a major concern in the United States and worldwide, may worsen the rising toll from Alzheimer’s. The findings also add dementia to the cloud of threats that already hang over people with diabetes, including heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, blindness and amputations.
But some of the studies also hint that measures to prevent or control diabetes may lower the dementia risk, and that certain diabetes drugs should be tested to find out whether they can help Alzheimer’s patients, even those without diabetes. Current treatments for Alzheimer’s can provide only a modest improvement in symptoms and cannot stop the progression of the disease.
The new findings were presented today at a six-day conference in Madrid by the Alzheimer’s Association and attended by 5,000 researchers from around the world.
Alzheimer’s affects one in 10 people over 65, and nearly half over 85. About 4.5 million Americans have it, and taking care of them costs $100 billion a year, according to the association. The number of patients is expected to grow, possibly reaching 11.3 million to 16 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
But those projections do not even include a possible increase from diabetes.
“Alzheimer’s is going to swamp the health-care system,” said Dr. John C. Morris, a neurology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and an advisor to the Alzheimer’s Association.
In the past decade, several large studies found that, compared to healthy people of the same age and sex, those with Type 2 diabetes were twice as likely...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
More recently Type II has been associated with three gene variations. They are of the recessive variety, so somewhere about 5% of the population is at risk ~ almost certain risk ~ and that's with or without obesity.
Notice that 10% of the population over 65 has Alzheimers (according to this article). That's double the incidence of Type II diabetes, so folks who thought this article would hold no interest to them really oughta' lissen' up.
NY Terrorist Tipsheet. Good one.
Fructose is just another sugar that the body can and will convert into the sugar form it likes best. Think of the human body as being much more like that of the honeybee than you ever thought. We take stuff and turn it into sugar. Then we store it. The honeybee pukes it up and puts it in a wax comb. We use insulin to stuff it in fat cells. Bzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz.
Here's what I do ~ I restrict my vegetable and fruit intake to 17 low glycemic index types. I never drink juice, nor ripe fruit of any kind, not even lemons or grapefruit ~ after a couple of years without artificial sweeteners or sugar you can eat an unripe lemon and it will taste sweet to you (if no one else).
I read every label to see what the carbohydrate content is.
Obviously I'm not worried at all about suffering from cornsyrup poisoning.
Apparently, they've found a fancier name for what we used to call senility. I don't think Alzheimer's is anything new. I think they just found a new name to help their never-ending search for research money.
Hey, I say more steak and beer and cut down on the sweets.
I do occasionally drink juice, a nice Chianti.
That fanatic attention to detail faded over time. He started eating tons of carbs. His eyesight began to fail. He became mean for no apparent reason. The day he checked into the hospital for the final time, we learned that he had brain scans and other diagnostic work in his charts that he never told anyone about. We suspected Alzheimer's as his gait moved from "normal" to "shuffling" over the last 18 months he was alive. He was still driving a car 3 days before he went to the hospital. He never had a formal diagnosis of Alzheimer's, but all the outward signs were present.
My wife's mother-in-law has been confined to a hospital for the last 3 years. Diagnosed Alzheimer's. She just had another stroke last week. Now she doesn't recognize anyone and has ceased eating enough to survive. The doctors give her 2 weeks at this point. She was a nice, intelligent lady when I met her 20 years ago.
Still too much sugar in there, plus alcohol puts a load on your kidneys, and you may already have suffered damage due to too high blood sugar.
How many of these are over 85?
After all, you don't end up with plugged/clogged/collapsing arteries in one or two years of funny dieting.
Plus, you should have done more exercise!
SOY!
http://www.mercola.com/2004/apr/21/soy_health.htm
Think Soy is Healthy? Here’s Why it’s Not as Good as You Think
By Dr. Joseph Mercola
Soy has gained the reputation as a health food, in large part, because of the numerous health claims surrounding its products. Interestingly, a friend of mine forwarded a pro-soy article to me to refute and I was surprised to find my name mentioned in it as "an ardent advocate of eating beef, chicken, turkey, ostrich, and other meats."
The article is What About Soy? by John Robbins, who I believe is one of the most avid soy supporters out there. He brings up dozens of points, and even mentions me in the article, so I thought refuting his article would be a good way to answer the other critics out there as well.
Lowering Cholesterol
Robbins ascribes soy’s potential to lower cholesterol as beneficial. However, while this may be helpful in some, it can be certainly cause disease in others. Low cholesterol does not necessarily imply good health. Please review some of the well-documented dangers of low cholesterol if you are not familiar with them
This is because we all need cholesterol and levels below optimal can cause serious problems. Much of the hype about cholesterol has been generated by self-serving research used to support the massive profit structure of pharmaceutical companies supplying drug-based "solutions."
For example, I happen to have a genetically low cholesterol and it has been as low as 75 at times. This is very dangerous and it took me many years to understand how to normalize it and now my cholesterol is about 100 points higher and a far healthier 175.
Robbins also says, "Soy beverages are cholesterol-free, while cow's milk contains 34 mg of cholesterol per cup, which again means that cow's milk is far worse for your heart and cardiovascular system." This is not a strong argument for soy, as, again, we all need cholesterol--without it we suffer major health problems. It is also important to realize that I do not advocate drinking commercial milk, only non-pasteurized raw milk if one is able to tolerate it.
Animal Study Circular Arguments
Robbins cites a number of studies to support the concept that different animal species respond uniquely to soy or other variables. No argument here.
But, Robbins uses a circular argument that doesn’t hold water by giving examples of drugs that were safe in animals but dangerous in humans. For instance:
"When the arthritis drug Opren was tested on monkeys, no problems were found, but it killed 61 people before it was withdrawn. Cylert was fine for animals, but when it was given to hyperactive children it caused liver failure."
This doesn’t prove the converse that soy that is safe in animals is safe in humans.
Phytic Acid
According to Mary Enig and Sally Fallon, soybeans are high in phytic acid, which, in large amounts, can block the uptake of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract. This is one area where I disagree with Enig and Fallon partially in that the phytic acid in soy (and other plant products like beans, nuts and seeds) may be beneficial or detrimental, it just depends.
For men phytic acid is probably very helpful as nearly all adult males have excess iron as we never had menstrual periods. I personally take a phytic acid supplement to lower my iron levels. However, in menstruating women and children the phytic acid in soy can be a serious negative.
In his arguments Robbins correctly points out that fermented soy products have lower phytic acid than commercial soy products. However, he does so as to contradict Fallon and Enig, but this is exactly what they also state. They have no problems with fermented soy products and encourage their consumption.
Osteoporosis
Robbins’ comments that people consuming soyfoods have reduced rates of osteoporosis are a red herring as there are many factors other than soy consumption that are far more powerful influences on optimal bone density. I actually have a book in progress in this area.
For instance, vitamin K is one of the most important nutritional interventions for improving bone density and vitamin K2, which is made in your body and also produced by fermented foods, is a superior form. Fermented soy products may indeed be beneficial, but the typical store-bought soy, like soy meat substitutes, soy milk, soy ice cream and so on, will not produce this effect. You can also get this beneficial form of vitamin K by making your own fermented foods.
Cancer
I would never recommend or encourage non-fermented soy for cancer prevention. However, you can certainly include fermented soy as part of a healthy diet that contributes to cancer prevention.
The exception here is if you already have cancer. In this case, certain constituents from soy can certainly be used therapeutically to help treat the cancer, but that is a completely different application than consuming commercial soy products.
Even Robbins admits that it is wise to avoid large doses of isoflavones:
"When manufacturers of soy protein isolates and supplements recommend that people consume 100 grams of soy protein a day (the equivalent of 7 or 8 soyburgers), they are ignoring the unknown effects of overdosing on isoflavones. I believe it's probably safer, until more is learned, to avoid concentrated soy supplements entirely."
Birth Defects
At least one study has found that soy phytoestrogens appear to increase the risk of birth defects by as much as 500 percent. Further, soy formula exposes infants to very high levels of hormones that can have negative influences on them as they grow older.
The link between soy and birth defects does need to be studied further, as this connection may or may not be true. However, the uncertainty of the association in no way detracts from the other arguments presented here and in other sources against the use of non-fermented soy.
Alzheimer’s Disease
One study of close to 4,000 elderly Japanese-American men found that those who ate the most tofu during midlife had more than double the risk of later developing Alzheimer's disease.
Similar to the birth defects and soy argument above, soy may or may not increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, as more studies should be done to truly prove this association. But whether or not this is true does not make non-fermented soy any better to consume.
(much more at link)
I am a type 2 diabetic,, My a1c is less than 7..I feel that I control it with diet and Actos Last time I saw my doc.. Who once said less than 7 was great now wants it less than 6.. She put me on another pill and a week later I had to stop by a quick shop once to get orange juice because my BS was like low and was feeling sweety out of it and having a hard time driving and was having an adverse reaction to the additional pill.. I mean this is crazy I quit taking that pill and when I test its like 93 to 120.. Tell me what to do.. I have to see her in a week..
Is MedlinePlus not up to date?
This makes it possible to control your diet most of the time without testing or attention to detail.
On the other hand, you have to make it a regular practice in your life to reduce starch and sugar intake to virtually nothing. Normal intake is 300 grams of carbs per day. You can get your blood sugar under control by reducing that to no more than 100 per day, and the way you do that is set a goal of no more than 20 grams per day (stuff just pops into your mouth when you feel hungry all the time so make sure it's well packed in fiber to slow down digestion).
I suspect your dad had high triglycerides and high cholesterol when they caught him. It's tough to combat that combination, but the anti-cholesterol drugs help.
Makes me want to eat a ripe peach even!
Actually, there has been some very interesting research in the last couple years that strongly suggests that Alzheimer's is to the brain what Type II diabetes is to the pancreas.
You did know that the brain produces insulin, right? Arguably one of the more interesting and unexpected medical discoveries in the last few years. If you think of Alzheimer's in terms of diabetes, many of the research results and characteristics of the disease make a lot of sense.
I'd just read the other day that by the time you're 85 you have a 30% chance of developing Alzheimers or "other dementia".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.