According to scientists’ opinion, sugar in both food and beverages leads to dementia development. Of course, this is quite an unpleasant piece of news for sweet teeth. However, you can still change the way you live, and this is a great announcement.
The most uncontrollable risk factors for disease development are age and genetics. How to change your diet in order to increase healthy aging chances? According to scientists from Columbia University, sugar in food and beverages leads to dementia development.
Why is Alzheimer’s disease sometimes called type 3 diabetes?
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes can lead to an increase in blood sugar levels. According to studies, slower response, poor memory, higher levels of cognitive decline accompany all the elderly, having diabetes, when compared with the health of other people. Alzheimer’s disease has an owl name – type 3 diabetes. People with chronic elevated blood sugar have a faster cognitive decline. Insulin resistance occurs in 80% of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
5 ways how high blood sugar can negatively affect the brain
1. Extremely dangerous insulin resistance cycle.
If insulin levels are poorly and carelessly controlled, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is very high. When food, carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are consumed in your food, they are broken down into another type of sugar, glucose. Your stomach and small intestine absorb sugar, sending it to the blood while your body is digesting food.
Sugar is drawn into the bloodstream by the hormone insulin, giving it to the cells in both organs and muscles. Thanks to this, your cells receive energy. The pancreas is a huge hormone producing insulin. Your body tries to release more insulin if the blood sugar level is too high. Insulin tries to give MORE sugar to the cells in the net effect. Your cells will try to protect themselves from this powerful insulin effect in the event. It is called insulin resistance. The pancreas responds to this resistance by releasing more insulin. And here the most dangerous cycle begins. High blood sugar is caused by sweets’ foods of high carbohydrate consumption. The body, in its turn, tries to control this amount of sugar, quickly pumping out a lot of insulin. This is an “insulin surge”. Cells become resistant to insulin due to the constant elevated insulin levels over time. Insulin resistance leads to an increase in blood sugar levels. The release of more insulin is caused by high blood sugar levels. Another dangerous pattern appears.
2. Drowning the brain in sugar
Your brain can not do without a permanent energy source in the glucose form (sugar, digestible in your body). Glucose can easily enter brain cells.
Brain cells do not need any insulin in order to absorb the sugar, compared with other body cells. Brain cells will just absorb sugar right from the bloodstream. Sugar has a unique ability to easily penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
Unfortunately, when sugar enters the brain, it no longer produces any mental energy. The brain is able to convert sugar into energy only using insulin. If years of sugar consumption and simple carbohydrates led to insulin resistance, then a high level of both insulin and sugar will be observed in the brain. The beneficial use of sugar in the brain may be interrupted due to the high insulin load. Sugar is difficult to transform into energy. It can be said the brain almost “floats” in sugar, but cannot use it to convert into energy, regulating the body’s functions and helping us to think. If, however, energy from sugar cannot be obtained by the brain, its cells simply die. You can imagine that with insulin resistance, brain cells are surrounded by sugar and practically drown in it. Cells are not capable of using sugar.
3. Inflammations occurred due to high blood sugar
Body inflammations can also be caused by the consequences of the same high sugar level in the blood. Numerous heart diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and even cancer can develop. Usually, both diets high in sugar and simple carbohydrates lead to inflammation. This often happens when excess fat accumulates around the abdomen. At the same time, fat secretes cytokines in the abdominal cavity, that is, a specific type of protein, causing inflammation. It may look like an infected cut on your skin, being red and swollen. Inflammation in the visceral organs, such as brain or heart, leads the body to a constant state of “fighting infection”. As a result, your knowledge may be impaired due to swelling and irritation of the brain and blood vessels.
4. Brain blockage with sugar
The risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease can double due to a large amount of abdominal fat in those who are obese. This is due to the fact there are certain “lumps” in the brain that literally clog up thinking. How does this happens? Amyloid proteins are toxic to the brain. Fat-assed people have a much higher level of amyloid proteins. And when there are a lot of them, they stick together, forming lumps. As a rule, these clusters are found in the brains of people, suffering from Alzheimer’s. Nowadays, in the medical world, there is a continuing debate about whether amyloid protein accumulations cause Alzheimer’s disease or not.
5. Strokes due to high blood sugar
Blood flow to the brain depends on insulin resistance. Brain function is seriously affected if the brain cells do not have enough blood. Due to a blood flow decrease, mini-strokes can occur. Blood vessels may weaken, just like old leaking tubes. One of the dementia signs is a stroke.
How to protect both your brain and future
Reliability of thinking and healthy brain work are one of the most important keys to a happy and peaceful life. It is very important to ensure the brain to work without any barriers. Dementia is a terrifying and terrible disease. How about reducing the risk of developing dementia? There are many factors contributing to dementia. Some of them are completely under our control. Insulin resistance is thought to cause a variety of problems in your brain.
