Type 3 Diabetes aka Alzheimers. (Not Copy & Pasted)

                                                          

It generally takes a long while for new discoveries and paradigms to filter into the general public. 

I myself had not heard about this until I came across it in my course content.  Some of my other posts have been quite long so ill keep this one short and sweet. (I hear many of you breathe a sigh of relief)

Adipose tissue (fat) , skeletal muscle and the liver have traditionally been considered the key insulin target organs, however most people do not know that the brain has also been added to this list.

In 2005, Alzheimer's disease was provisionally labelled as Type 3 Diabetes, after researchers found that the brain actually produces insulin. Up until this point it was believed that production of this hormone was solely in the pancreas. This 'brain insulin' is vital for healthy brain cells. There has been a gradual expansion in the understanding of the role of insulin in the brain, and it is now agreed to be a vital component of memory processes in the hippocampus. (The part of the brain which is heavily involved in organizing our memories). (1)

A vast volume of research is showing how drastically the diet can impact the health of the brain. For 70-90 year olds, diet was shown to be a significant risk factor for mild cognitive impairment. Sugar and carbohydrates were the biggest negatively influencing culprits, and fat's and proteins were shown to have protective factors. Researchers observed issues with language, memory, judgement and thinking. Individuals consuming the highest levels of carbohydrates were almost twice as likely to develop these mild impairments compared to those individuals with the lowest consumption.  Researchers also found that when they disrupted the signalling of insulin in the brain, this resulted in dementia. (2)

                                                   

I have not researched this topic thoroughly enough, only touched on it on my course, but this has really got me thinking about the health implications of certain types of diet's which seem to be popular online, such as the fruitarian diet. One thing I have learned since I have started studying the subject is that there is an incredible amount of incorrect information circulating the internet.

I have observed some video's of individuals saying there is no need to be concerned about consuming a purely fruit based diet and it's effect on insulin as we don't need insulin to deal with fructose- the kind of sugar in fruit. This is just not true, and it's a new diet trend where we are not able to gauge the long term health effects. The body is extremely resilient, it's job is to keep you alive it can adapt to almost anything, it wouldn't be until much later you start to see any ill effects, this is of course if  there are any. I am not saying there are, I am saying I need to look into this some more before I can properly comment, and I would urge anyone else do research any type of diet they are considering thoroughly, and not to listen to someone's advice online because they look great in their video's. Many, but not all, of these youtube stars have undergone plastic surgery and don't follow the diet as religiously as they claim they are.

You Are In Charge Of Your Own Health. Be Responsible.

References

1- Diamant, M., Brain insulin signalling in the regulation of energy balance and peripheral metabolism. Ideggyogy Sz, 2007. 60 

2-  J Alzheimers Dis, 2012. 32(2): p. 329-39. 

Image source (I must learn how to imbed these)

1-https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=izeDasZI&id=79B07AAEFA49FAB0B63FA4CBFE90C03D5CC462EC&thid=OIP.izeDasZI3zpT1QJmAkOregEsDH&q=alzheimers&simid=608003333025171411&selectedIndex=1&ajaxhist=0

2-https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=HVXjdepn&id=DA4B57B14AEF95A942EDADE1E9332DA8F060848D&thid=OIP.HVXjdepnWZ65_tXxJrVe1wEsEs&q=memory&simid=608019284521062004&selectedIndex=15&ajaxhist=0