Group items tagged

A study conducted by Michigan Medicine revealed that individuals who experience type 2 diabetes over an extended period are increasingly prone to experiencing alterations in their brain structure. A group of scientists examined data from 51 middle-aged Pima American Indians who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. They employed a set of memory and language assessments known as the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery, developed by the National Institutes of Health, alongside MRI scans. These analyses aimed to establish the connection between diabetes, cognitive function, and the composition of the brain. Brain imaging suggested that study participants with longer durations of type 2 diabetes had decreased mean cortical thickness and gray matter volumes, and an increased volume of white matter hyperintensities. The MRI results, researchers say, indicate the negative effects longstanding diabetes may have on brain health outcomes and emphasise the importance of preventing early onset type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes drugs that also promote weight loss such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, becoming a darling of celebrities and investors, are being studied to tackle some of the most difficult-to-treat brain disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Diabetes regimens, from Ozempic to old mainstays like insulin and metformin, appear to address several different aspects of the metabolic system implicated in Alzheimer's disease, including a protein called amyloid and inflammation, researchers say. The hope is that improving glucose utilisation and tamping down inflammation in the entire body - including the brain - could slow progression of debilitating diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Several scientists interviewed by Reuters news agency pointed to mounting research supporting testing diabetes drugs against neurodegenerative diseases. Results are years away and success uncertain. But interest has been buoyed by recent positive data on Alzheimer's drugs developed by Eisai with partner Biogen and by Eli Lilly demonstrating that removing sticky amyloid plaques accumulated in the brain can slow cognition decline caused by the fatal mind-wasting disease. Those successes followed decades of futility that had left many questioning the validity of the amyloid theory behind most experimental Alzheimer's drugs.