Diabetes Treatment May Keep Dementia, Alzheimer's at Bay

A study published in Diabetes Care suggests people taking drugs for Type 2 diabetes may be warding off Alzheimer's, reports EurekAlert . Psychologists at the University of Southern California (USC) learned that persons with untreated diabetes developed Alzheimer's symptoms faster than non-diabetics. "Among people with diabetes, the difference in their rate of developing the signs of dementia and Alzheimer's is clearly tied somehow to whether or not they are on medication for it," said USC's Daniel A. Nation. The researchers compared the "tau pathology," or the progression of the brain tangles that signal Alzheimer's. They analyzed data on 1,289 people 55 and older, including biomarkers for diabetes and vascular disease, brain scans, and a range of health indicators, such as performance on memory tests. Some participants had a decade's worth of data, while others had one or four years' worth. Among 900 of those subjects, 54 had type 2 diabetes but were not being treated, while 67 were getting treatment. The majority of participants, 530, had normal blood sugar levels, while 250 had prediabetes. "It is possible that the medicines for treating diabetes might make a difference in the progression of brain degeneration," Nation said. "But it's unclear how exactly those medications might slow or prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease, so that is something we need to investigate."