This led de la Monte’s team to develop the concept that impaired insulin signaling has an important role in the pathogenesis of AD. Reevaluation of the older literature revealed that impairments in brain metabolism occur early as the symptoms of AD develop. The biochemical, molecular, and cellular abnormalities that precede or accompany AD neurodegeneration, are characteristically common, yet they lack a clear origin. Insulin in the brain not only modulates glucose uptake, but also promotes the health of brain cells - their growth, survival, remodeling, and normal functioning.ĭe la Monte presents a plethora of data that strongly support the notion that there is clearly a similarity between Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that could not be ignored. Insulin is an important hormone that behaves as “the gatekeeper” to get glucose into our cells, including brain cells. glucose), because the brain cannot respond to insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) stimulation. Growing evidence supports the concept that Alzheimer’s is fundamentally a metabolic disease that results in progressive impairment in the brain’s capacity to use blood sugar (i.e.
de la Monte, Type 3 diabetes is otherwise known as Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia in North America.
The short unconfirmed-by-the-scientific-community answer to the Title of this article is: YES.Īccording to a paper published this past January in the journal Drugs written by Dr.