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Type 2 Diabetes Can Increase The Risk Of Dementia

A new study indicates that the young population with type2 diabetes is more prone to suffer from Dementia in their future.

Type 2 Diabetes Can Increase The Risk Of Dementia

Some other studies also have suggested the same about Dementia and have found a link between diabetes and the high risk of Dementia. This is for obvious reasons as diabetes does have detrimental effects on the human brain.

Type 2 Diabetes Can Increase The Risk Of Dementia

The new study has emphasized younger people who are said to be at more risk.

According to the study, the data that was recorded and observed showed that older people in their 70’s who had diabetes and were diagnosed in old age had very less risk or no risk of Dementia as compared to ones who were not diabetic. But the old people who were diagnosed with diabetes much before, like ten years back or more, were at higher risk of having Dementia at their old age when compared to those who were not diagnosed with diabetes at their young age.

A senior researcher Archana Singh-Manoux said that if diabetes hits younger people, it is obvious that it takes more time to take a toll on them, and therefore, the impacts are more dangerous.  

When the body stops being sensitive to the hormone that helps to balance the blood sugar known as insulin, diabetes type 2 develops. Due to this, there are higher levels of blood sugar, which damages the large and small blood vessels in the entire body.

Singh- Manoux explained that the bad effects of diabetes lead to problems of blood flow in the brain, which causes Dementia.

She also mentioned that the functioning of the brain is also regulated by insulin and when diabetes arises, it might block insulin from functioning properly. Another way of the brain getting affected could be the treatments of diabetes, which leads to a drop in blood sugar. When blood sugar is persistently low for a long time, it also damages the brain.

The data of the American Diabetes Association shows that almost 34 million of the population or more in the U.S. are patients suffering from diabetes, and they are majorly diabetes type 2 patients.

There was a time when diabetes type 2 was to be found only in older people. But with high rates of obesity, the risk of type 2 diabetes has also gone higher in young people.

Singh-Manoux remarked that when younger people live with diabetes for a longer time, greater risk of having health hazards like cardiac problems, stroke leading to untimely death. She said that this study has further listed Dementia with those diseases.

A study involved ten thousand adults as their subjects who were aged between thirty-five and fifty-five. In thirty years, out of those ten thousand people, one thousand seven hundred and ten people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and 637 of them had Dementia.

People of 70, who had diabetes in the past five years, were not at risk of Dementia. But those who were diagnosed before ten years had double risk. This was evident from the data, which reflected that there18 out of 1000 people had brain disease per year.

Archana-Singh-Manoux said that it was seen in the findings of other studies that people who have controlled diabetes have a slow rate of cerebral decline than those who have weaker control. And the new study also highlights the fact that dementia risk was more in diabetes patients who also had heart issues.

To control diabetes, measures are needed to be taken, which means taking medicines, insulin, and bring changes in diet, exercising regularly, etc. These aids to long-term health benefits. Suppose these precautions are taken on time at a young age. In that case, the problems in health in middle and old age will diminish, as said by Dr. MedhaMunshi, the director of the geriatrics diabetes program at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

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