Alzheimer's Looks as Avoidable as Diabetes
As this ScienceDaily release notes, Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes share many of the same risk factors. Pack on the fat and stop exercising and you too can suffer metabolic syndrome that later blossoms into these and other degenerative conditions. "Modern societies face the increasing burden of age-related diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). There is some evidence that the causes underlying both diseases are linked. Do AD and T2D represent the endpoint of aged, exhausted, and dysfunctional cells having reached their maximal life expectancy or are AD and T2D the consequences of living in superabundance including excessive food supply, work demands, psychosocial stress, and an excessive sedentary life style? ... The mechanisms relating [excess fat tissue] and T2D to AD may include hyperinsulinemia, advanced products of glycosylation, cerebrovascular disease, and products of adipose tissue metabolism. The implication of these associations is that a large proportion of the world population may be at increased risk of AD given the trends for increasing prevalence of overweight, obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and T2D. However these associations may also present a unique opportunity for prevention and treatment of AD."
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511091907.htm