In 25 years, it’s estimated that the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease in this country will almost triple.
That’s also about the same amount of time researchers have found it might take for the disease to grow and develop in the human brain. But UNLV researchers have published a new study uncovering another clue as to what could be causing brain disease—while also pointing to a possible hedge against that development.
Psychology professor James Hyman is the lead on the research that was just published in the Journal of Neurosciences.
The study found a link between high levels of blood sugar/blood glucose and Alzheimer’s. Hyman said people who develop Alzheimer's invariably have high blood-sugar levels, but high blood-sugar doesn’t mean you’ll develop Alzheimer’s.
Diabetes can also be associated with high blood-sugar levels.
“Diabetes … especially type two diabetes, can be treated with changes to our lifestyle and with currently available medicines that could help avoid people ending up with Alzheimer's disease when they get into their 70s and 80s,” Hyman said.
What Hyman and his team found was that the brains of animals with high blood sugar didn’t show the same “reward response” as animals with normal blood sugar. They would still eat or drink something rewarding – in this case it was sugar-free chocolate oat milk -- but then quickly moved on, seemingly without creating that memory pathway.
So a big question: eliminate lots of sugar, and maybe it works in some people to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s? And with drugs that lower blood sugar levels, which many are taking these days to lose weight, could that help?
Hyman said that the hypothesis is being tested now in clinical trials to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease.
Guest: James Hyman, psychology professor, UNLV
