Each of the cells in the body
uses glucose, a type of sugar, as its principal source of energy.
The act of thinking, remembering,
and learning are all tightly correlated with the amount of glucose in the blood
and how effectively the cognitive system uses this fuel.
Neurotransmitters, the
brain's messengers of chemicals, are not created if there is insufficient glucose
present, for example, and neural transmission is disrupted. Additionally,
hypoglycemia, a frequent side effect of diabetes brought on by low blood
glucose levels, can cause a lack of mental energy and is associated with poor
concentration as well as cognitive performance.
Vera Novak, a medical doctor, Ph.D., and a medical school associate professor in the medical faculty at Beth Israel
Massachusetts Medical Center, claims that sugar is the brain's primary fuel
source. "It is essential to being and cannot exist without it."
While a 2009 research
investigation, also using a model of animal behavior, by a group of
investigators at the Universities of Montreal and Massachusetts Institute of
Technology connected excessive consumption of glucose to storage space and
cognitive deficiencies, a 2012 study in the creatures by Study participants at
the School of Medicine of California, Los Angeles suggested an advantageous
association between an excessive intake of fructose and another form of sugar,
which makes it and the aging of cells.
Diabetes, a set of illnesses
marked by persistently high blood glucose levels, may exhibit the most severe
effects of both glucose and other sugars on the brain. The immune system
attacks the cells in the organ known as the pancreas that make insulin, a
hormone the body uses to regulate blood glucose levels, causing type 1
diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which cells are overrun by
insulin and fail to behave appropriately; they become impervious to insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is brought on by nutritional and other environmental variables.
The primary fuel for the
brain is sugar. Dr. Vera Novak has a
PhD.
According to Novak, both type 1
and type 2 long-term diabetes have numerous negative effects on the brain's
neurons. Functional connectivity, which connects brain regions with similar
functional characteristics, and brain matter can both be impacted by high blood
glucose levels. The brain may contract or atrophy as a result. Additionally, it
can result in small-vessel disease, which reduces blood supply to the brain,
impairing cognition and, in extreme cases, triggering the onset of vascular
dementia.
Novak is researching ways to stop
these consequences in persons with diabetes who have type 2 diabetes in her
lab. Intranasal insulin (INI), a nasal spray, is one of these methods. INI
enters the central nervous system when used and binds to transmitters in the
hippocampus, the central nervous system, and the insular cortex, which are areas
that are part of the brain's memory networks. Learning and visual impressions
of spatial relationships, two cognitive processes linked to these memory
networks, advance as signaling within them becomes more effective.
According to Novak, type 2
diabetes hastens brain aging, which hastens the development of functional
impairment. We're expecting that intranasal insulin will open a new therapy
option to mitigate or eliminate these effects.
In a preliminary trial, Novak and
her coworkers discovered that just a single administration of INI improved
verbal learning, spatial orientation, and memory. She is now organizing the
first INI clinical trial for type 2 diabetes in older people.
The significant incidence of dementia
and substantial cognitive deterioration among older persons with diabetes make
the trial's findings particularly pertinent.
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