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Alzheimer's Could Be a Third Form of Diabetes
Atzanteol writes "Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer's memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes. Scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling — crucial for memory formation — would stop working in Alzheimer's disease."
What was I doing?
Be conscientious!!
:-)
Suggestions for who is at risk follow....
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
At Best Buy the other day (hate the store, but no Fry's around here), saw that they were selling "Alzheimer" brand memory sticks.
While I understand (upon doing a double take and inspecting the package) that it is meant to support an Alzheimer association, I can't help but think that it's not a good marketing combination.
That said, I have diabetes from one grandfather and Alzheimers from my grandma, both of my dad's parents... crap.
As a developer and student, I consume eight liters of Mountain Dew a day and I have no diabetes problems.
You're not a developer and student, that was 60 years ago. It's now 2067.
I thought that it was not sugar so much as Phenylalanine
The way I've heard it, "Diet" versions of soft drinks are more likely to cause the onset of Type-B (adult) diabetes, through their containing aspartame and other sugar substitutes which can in the long term affect the way you process sugars.
Who knows? There's a warning on all drinks that contain a source of phenylalanine, in the UK at least.
"There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates." - Chuck Peddle
Currently, there are a number of trials of therapies that target amyloid ß proteins. Some are on the verge of phase III testing approval by the FDA. We may soon be looking at the end of Alzheimer's as a life destroying disease.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
I've heard rumours that smoking drives down the possibility
of brain-related diseases (alzheimers(sp?), parkinsons).
Anyone care to comment?
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
According to the article:
Did Ronald Reagan eat too many jellybeans?
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Technically, wouldn't Alzheimer's be the Fourth type of Diabetes.
Type 1, Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (alias "Juvenile Diabetes")
Type 2, Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (alias "adult-onset diabetes")
(Type 3) Gestational Diabetes
(Type 4, implied by TFA) Alzheimer's
As a side note, this comment was posted by a Type 1 diabetic.
Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
I'm actively trying to avoid the stuff for some time now, but wow: it's almost everywhere! Even in some yogurts..
;D
Minimized sugar intake in general as well.. and I'm haven't had a cup of coffee since May... and I'm still productive as a programmer.
After the initial, small withdrawal symptoms I'm feeling lot better too. My focus is sharper and I'm feeling more creative too.
That's like saying "I smoke 20 a day, and I don't have cancer" ... yet. But you have increased your risk of getting it. A lot.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
Nah! You just *think* you are ;-)
Sez Dave, who also hasn't touched coffee for a while but drinks gallons of tea instead.Every bloody emperor has his hand up history's skirt [Peter Hammill/VdGG]
You are confusing 'anecdote' with 'data'. They are two vastly different things.
"I've heard rumours that smoking drives down the possibility of brain-related diseases (alzheimers(sp?), parkinsons)"
was: Re:Smoking?
davecb5620@gmail.com
Haha, "New friends every day." Get it?! LOL.
It's not so funny when it happens to you or your family. Wait until someone you know gets it. You won't be laughing anymore.
Haha, that guy has a limp. Haha, that woman is blind. Haha, that kid is retarded. Hahaha. Fucking hilarious.
Whatever you do, don't get Alzheimer's disease. It sucks.
My grandmother just turned 94 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease. She can barely walk anymore. I devote a few hours of my life every single day to caregiving. If you've never known someone like this, you really have no idea what's involved. Yeah, we could put her in a home. We could watch her die sooner that way, wearing diapers and ceaselessly, hopelessly calling out for someone to please take her home. As it is now, she wears diapers, but at least we always change them. In nursing homes, they don't.
Have you ever had someone you know and love, who helped raise you and even changed *your* diapers and then helped teach you how to count and how to read and how to do puzzles and math and typing and how to play games, who taught you the names of the plants that grow out in the back yard? And now she can smile and say "Hello", and tell you to get the hell out because she don't know who you are a moment later?
That's Alzheimer's. You can be helping to manage her most intimate financial affairs completely honestly, you can be doing her laundry and getting her medicine and bringing her groceries and cooking her meals and washing her dishes and vacuuming her floors and helping her get to the doctor and even wiping her ass, when she cannot do it herself anymore, and yet she'll still tell you she loves you one night, and the next morning she wants you to go away, go to hell, or just please, please take her home. Because she doesn't know what home means anymore. She's already at home, and she doesn't know who you are anymore.
She knows what she knew in 1920 or 1930 sometimes, funny stories she can still tell sometimes, but she mixes up everyone's names; she doesn't know who is who anymore. She used to speak three languages, English, German, and French. But now she often speaks gibberish, a weird combination of whatever words she still can recall. She can't always understand simple sentences. She's like a kid who cannot learn.
Alzheimer's sucks; nursing homes suck. Go visit one someday if you doubt me. My grandmother's genes and her circumstances allowed her to outlive two of her children. She never got cancer, but that's what killed her elder son at 50. She had a heart attack thirty years ago, but she didn't die of heart disease. That's what killed her elder daughter at 60. Yet my grandmother lives on, as her mind slowly disintegrates.
She still likes to watch children playing, or to meet a drooling baby, maybe a child of someone who helps care for her, brought over to visit. She still likes to pet her cats and smile and watch them roll on the floor with catnip at her feet, she still can interface with her two grandchildren, she still has a sense of humor that we all can understand and sometimes laugh about together.
She doesn't know what year it is or what day it is, and sometimes she can't remember how to properly hold a spoon (or she'll try drinking from it like a straw). But she especially likes bananas and squash and sweet potatoes and chocolate chip cookies. I know this because I'm there sometimes to remind her to take another bite. She says "This is good, thank you!"
And sometimes when you help lift her into bed at night, she'll tell you she loves you. I guess that helps make it all worthwhile.
Anyway, this is what will happen to you if you don't die of anything else or get hit by a bus before your brain starts to degrade. I suppose it hasn't been all bad, I have learned a lot caring for my grandmother. But she is no longer able to offer her opinion. [yeah, it's my own copypasta, but it's relevant]
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2720011.stm
I guess it took 4 years for someone to suggest what some of those memory impairment deficiencies could be...
There's a warning on all drinks that contain a source of phenylalanine, in the UK at least.
The warning's in the US too. The reason for it is because of a genetic mutation that makes some people unable to metabolize the stuff properly, otherwise, it's considered an essential amino acid, although it's primary role in humans is to produce tyrosine, which could be obtained directly from diet.
The warning are for people who react bad on phenylalanine, the reason most people react weird on sugarfree stuff are probably do to the sugar alcohols thought which makes your stomach and guts act weird =P (I can't understand why that shit is use, something like 240 kcal/100g compared to 420 of sugar but it's less sweet so it probably have around the same sweetness/kcal. Sure it's better for your teeths but who cares.)
I doubt aspartame affect it, it doesn't raise insulin levels, acesulfame-k does if I remember right and they both come together. But it still doesn't do it close to what real carbs would do.
Fructose metabolism skips one step in the body somehow so that's not good for it atleast, so all that high fructose corn syrup you americans have in your soft drinks won't help. Sure there are some fructose in fruits aswell (together with regular saccarose and glucose) but atleast then you get other good stuff aswell with it. So I don't suggest not eating fruit because some of the sugars aren't that great, but why eat the sugar alone?
do you also weigh 400lb and have no teeth?
Caffeine DO make you more tired in total, even if it does increase your energy during some time.
I'll keep drinking my 8-10 cups of tea each day thought.
"Diabetes" is way too over-used. One type is (seemingly) an immune disorder, requires many injections per day, can kill in an hour, requires all sorts of monitoring. Another type is (seemingly) due to self-neglect, requires some tablets and some monitoring. Another type (which I don't know much about at all, if it is another "type") is triggered by pregnancy, and now a forth is really just seemingly about the same chemical in the body, but has almost completely different causes and effects. Yes, there's some memory loss in other forms of diabetes... but, why combine all these under one name? It can only lead to confusion for patients and carers. Seems to me that they're trying to jump on the well-established funding for diabetes research.
Waaah. drink water or switch to tea instead, there are a crapload of great stimulating drinks that are incredibly low sugar. Some teas out there make Mountian Dew look like wimpy girly juice in the amount of caffeine and stimulants. I have a tea for the morning that makes strong coffee look silly. if you are in a college town all this stuff is easy to find.
Why is it that many of our college educated are incredibly dense when it comes to common sense? high sugar diet is bad for you, kick your addiction and switch to something better.
Simple. Smoking shortens average life expectancy, therefor moving you into a different scale for average chance of getting Alzheimer or Parkinsons.
Suicide also seems to drive down your chances of getting Alzheimer...
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
I switched to herbal teas. if you want a stimulant some out there make the best strong coffee look like baby formula in strength. if you only consume stimulant in the AM only, cut off all use after 10am you will be fine. Being mostly sugar free is easy. the only places where I cheat is pure maple syrup, Honey, Mead, and Hard Cider.. the real stuff(9-10% alcohol) not the girly cider you get in the stores. Honestly one of the better things you can do as well is any grains you eat, only eat whole grains. upping your fiber intake helps quite a bit as well. a single 100% whole wheat slice of bread with 100% natural peanut butter can tide you over for hours. while the sugar crap peanut-butter and white bread will need 4 slices in 2 sandwiches to give you the same energy dosage after the sugar is burned.
Finally coffee is not a bad thing. if you think you have to have a pound of sugar and a quart of cream in your coffee then you are drinking bad coffee. unsweetened black coffee can be an incredibly pleasurable experience. find some roasted cocoa beans to add to the grounds as well and it become and incredible drink.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
i wish i could mod this comment higher than 5 funny... best /. comment of the week.
/applaud
Are you that misinformed about the disease...its like saying i slept with
150 women already, so there is no aids if i didnt get it yet....talk about ignorant.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Will people stop saying that diabetes is caused by consuming too much sugar?
As a developer and student, I consume eight liters of Mountain Dew a day and I have no diabetes problems.
If you don't have the diabetes gene, sugar won't cause diabetes. But if you
do have the diabetes gene, then consuming a lot of refined carbohydrates combined
with Insulin Resistance will push you to diabetes much faster. Sugar is one type
of refined carbs.
To give an example, if you have insulin resistance but are on a moderate carb diet,
then it may take you a long time (10-15 years) to become diet. OTOH, with
insulin resistance, if you are on a high carb diet especially with a lot of
refined carbs, you will get diabetic in 3-5 years.
Apparently no one got the joke. I did, though.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
What does coffee have to do with it? Whoa, you freaked me out for a second; I thought they'd finally found the killer drawback to my dark java mistress. Since I drink mine black, I don't have to worry about cancer (or diabetes) inducing sugars being involved. If I die, it'll be by caffeine alone.
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
Trolling aside, I'm not sure that'd have any effect.
Type 2 diabetes (by far the most common) is associated with obesity and overconsumption of refined sugars. This does not apply to other types of the syndrome. For example, type 1 diabetes (formerly known as juvenile diabetes) is not. Though ultimately the effects are similar, both do very different things. Roughly speaking, type 2 diabetics develop a resistance to insulin, but their bodies may still produce it. Type 1 diabetics don't necessarily develop that resistance, but lose the cells that produce insulin in the first place. There's no known medical way to prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes: it's just the luck of the draw, genetically.
The article in question doesn't go into many details, but I'm not sure I'd put money down on a direct correlation between unhealthy eating and Alzheimer's. Considering the amount of attention on Alzheimer's, I'd be rather surprised that such a correlation had not been discovered before now, anecdotally if nothing else.
Sean Daugherty "I have walked in Eternity -- and Eternity weeps."
"What does coffee have to do with it?"
;)
That was mentioned in a more general line: that you can cut back/step away from stuff.. even if it seems near impossible when you think about it at first. I thought Coffee was a good example given the audience of this site.
Maybe because it was a misquote. Abe Simpson says "porn star" not "pornographer".
ohh crud, I forgot what I was going to say
-- I am the NRA, enough said...
Shouldn't there be a number of existing test subjects - people who've been diagnosed with both Type II diabetes and alzheimers? If you are taking Actos and or Metformin for insulin resistance, do the alzheimers symptoms come on more slowly? It seems we should be able to have a large number of existing test subjects, if someone would just do the study...
Brawndo: It's what plants crave!
Would the next step be to compare alzheimer's severity and frequency in type 2 diabetics with the general populace?
I have been told Type II diabetes is genetic, one's insulin receptors are misformed or the insulin itself is incorrect. I have type II, and I never touched a diet soda until after I was diagnosed. Sugar does not cause diabetes, aspartame does not cause it either. It's in the genes.
There is a whole class of people who can't stand phenylalanine, Their bodies don't break it down so it builds up. That's why there is a warning.
Posting Anonymously due to privacy concerns and medical information.
Besides health reason, drinking herbal tea and unsweetened coffee is a fine way to develop appreciation to a magnitude of senses in the world around us, not just to the factory manufactured sugar and sweeteners. Even so, natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and even unrefined cane sugar (which appears naturally in powder form because it cannot crystallize) all offer rich and distinct textures much more than what corn syrup can offer.
So fuck diet coke. Even though your body is not supposed to consume the sweetener, it is just bad taste. Even water tastes better than that.
Same to the artificial scents that is designed to cover up bad odor with another bad odor. It is just numbing. As a kid, someone told me that flowers smell like perfume (which is supposedly made from flowers). I sniffed the flower and said, "I can't smell anything."
Another problem nowadays is that we have so much light pollution, so we look up in the sky and can hardly see any stars. The milky way is completely gone. I heard you used to be able to see it like a long silver belt that stretches across the sky. I've never seen it with bare eyes in my life. What used to sparkle imagination and humility is like yesterday's fairytale.
We now have entered a technology era where we wholly rely on ourselves and our cheaply manufactured senses that is, ironically, killing us with chronic diseases. Welcome to the future, and the future is now.
I once had a signature.
Given that the expression "ADDL minded" has been in colloquial usage for years to describe individuals with cognitive deficits, I find it difficult to understand why this subject is generating so much excitement now.
Are plural and singular the same thing?
Good news though: it is the year of Linux on the desktop.
Completely off topic, but just find a nice place like a camping ground or natural park where they don't have natural light sources immediately around you. The pitch blackness of night should allow you to see the Milky Way easily on a clear night. I saw the Milky Way once and I was quite awestruck. If you have not done so already, I highly recommend it.
blue
"I thought that it was not sugar so much as Phenylalanine"
The theory I have heard that makes the most sense is "high fructose corn syrup". 20 years ago Coke switched from sugar to this crap. The whole Coke/New Coke/Classic Coke marketing ploy was used to make the switch with few noticing (we were so glad to get our old coke back, we did not pay attention). Most other soft drink producers, and many other junk food manufacturers, did the same. It was much cheaper. Fructose does not trigger insulin the same way regular sugar does, causing a lot of glucose to build up in your blood. It also metabolizes quickly, sending your blood sugar through the roof within minutes of consumption.
The current Diabetes epidemic tracks this massive change in our diets almost perfectly. Give it 20 years, people get older, exercise less, the cumulative effects take hold and wham.
I almost never drank diet soda, primarily just Classic Coke. Not ridiculous quantities, but 2-3 cans a day was pretty normal. Mix that with a Snickers, ice cream, pasta, etc. In my late 30s I tried to lose weight by avoiding fat, but that pretty much leads to a high carb diet (unless you just eat rabbit food). By 40 (I am now 44) the symptoms started showing up, but I mostly ignored them.
One night I was out drinking with some coworkers, one noticed I was drinking water by the pitcher and we started talking. He was diabetic (not surprisingly another programmer who led a similar life to many of us) and had a glucometer. He measured my blood glucose and almost fell over. I had 520 mg/dl (80-120 is normal).
I am pretty sure that there is no one "smoking gun", but high fructose corn syrup sure seems a likely major factor. At least for me and many others. Especially considering the massive spike in cases, and the 15-20 year correlation to the massive introduction of HFCS to our diets.
If I can give a couple pieces of advice to the 20-somethings on this forum:
- You are not invincible. Bad habits will catch up with you in one way or another. Whether it is diabetes, heart problems, etc., it will get you. All the stock option bonanzas in the world won't save you either. Look around your office at the 40 somethings. Lots of fat and lazy folks. They were just like you 20 years ago!!!
- Get into an exercise habit, and stick with it. It does not have to be a formal plan or involve going to the gym, but walking or biking to work, the store (or the bar), parking at the back of the parking lot, etc. will all help. Going for a walk after eating is really good, as it is working off what you just shoved down your throat and speeds up your metabolism. It helps the environment too.
- Moderation is the key to food consumption. I don't advocate dropping all the good stuff, that gets too boring and you will likely not stick with it. Have your favorites, but get smaller portions and go for a walk afterwards.
I still love my DQ, but I only get it from the DQ 3 miles from my house, I get a small dish, and I ride my bike there. I still drink beer, but I only have 2 or 3 (instead of 7 or 8), and I ride my bike there too. I skip fries and have a salad instead. Have a coke, but then alternate with water or coffee instead of another coke. Get the can of coke, instead of the 20 oz or Big Gulp (forget about the price advantage, long-term that is a fallacy when you consider your health costs). All the little steps help, as long as there are lots of little things to have a cumulative effect, and you do it all (or at least most) of the time.
I will be living with this the rest of my shortened life. I will say though, it scared the the hell out of me, and I am now in as good a shape as I was 20 years ago, and way better than 10 years ago. I feel fucking great. I have more energy than I got from caffeine and sugar. I am just pissed off at myself for getting into this situation. I can't go back and change it, the damage is done. All I can do is contain it, and make it not get much worse. Hopefully I can help at least one person avoid my fate with this rant.
The only athletic sport I ever mastered was backgammon - Douglas William Jerrold
Has anyone noticed that the "larding of America" started in the early 1980's? That's right around the time that high-fructose corn syrup was introduced into soft drinks. Since about 1985, nearly all non-diet soft drinks marketed in the US contain HFCS as their sweetener, because of quotas and tariffs on sugar. In addition, it's found in a wide variety of baked goods and other processed foods.
Because of the influence and greed of the industrial farming lobby (ADM and friends), and despite numerous studies that show that HFCS is harmful, Americans continue to be subjected to this stuff in most of what they eat and drink.
It makes me sick. Literally.
Ask your doctor if getting up off your ass is right for you! -- Bill Maher
As a 42 year old developer that drank tons of soft drinks all I can say is.
I have Type 2 diabetes. No it is not caused by too much sugar. It is not caused by lack of exercise. There are many people in my office that are far more over weight and older than I am.
It is caused by a genetic predisposition.
BUT it does seem that high fructose corn syrup really does tend to increase your chance of developing all sorts of health issues.
Yea your a student now but don't bet that you may have to pay a high price for what you do to our body now.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
True words
That's like saying "I smoke 20 a day, and I don't have cancer"
And people survived trench warfare. That is no reason to throw a mustard gas party.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
now, where did I put my Big Mac?
Table-ized A.I.
No. Nobody has. You're the first one to make that connection.
This guy is just reposting his own highly moderated post from another article. http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=227061&cid=18392677
While the aggregated amyloid proteins may prevent insulin reception in synapses, the ONLY commonality I see, if the article is accurate, is the involvement of insulin. That does not make this "diabetes" in any way. Diabetes has to do with blood sugar levels, from several causes. While this does involve insulin, it is a very different process.
By the same kind of logic used to create the (TFA) headline, one could say that a weed-whacker and a portable generator are both "automobiles", because they use gasoline. I don't think so.
I'd add that were are usually smothered in noise pollution as well. Either we are hit with it or we invite it in (ipods). In the city you get the constant dull noise of cars, booming car stereos, truck backup beepers, etc. In the suburbs you get leaf blowers and ear shattering Harleys, among others. Then, on top of it, some people seem to be incapable of moving without headphones. Try going camping and remaining perfectly quiet, it can feel like a shock.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Though at the same time there was also the trend towards "super sizing" with massive Big Gulps, triple burgers, and oversized dinner portions. I'm shocked when I can actually eat a dinner out without having to take some home or feeling stuffed.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Speaking of ignoring your health, especially blood sugar. My brother was very active (sailboarding, motorcycles, hikes) but he also has genetic diabetes. He basically ignored it (never tested, ignored comments from our sister who is a nurse) until he had chest pains in his early 40's. He got a stress test and the doctor immediately sent him into surgery for a quintuple heart bypass! He sure doesn't ignore it anymore but he could've saved himself a lot of misery if he'd had dealt with it earlier. He is able to be pretty active again fortunately.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
And to most of our fellow slashdotters (me included), the humming and buzzing of our beloved boxen do quite a bit of polluting too. My main machine is right next to my bed.... so duh. It serves as a personal mini-server for me, so I usually hesitate to turn it off at night...
Don't quote me on this.
Good job!
If people knew more about caffeine, they wouldn't drink it in such concentrated amounts, like, ever. Some people here know its chemical structure, but that's not nearly enough to claim to be educated about it.
Here's how it works. Your brain gets energy by breaking down ATP and ADP, just like every other system. Eventually, it ends up with a bunch of free adenosine floating about (that's the "A" in ATP), which binds to adenosine neuroreceptors. This binding has an inhibitory action on the synapse - that is, it tends to keep all but the strongest signals from getting across. This is what makes your brain feel tired and less functional after working it for a long time.
Caffeine works by binding to the same receptors but not having the same effect. (It's an "adenosine antagonist".) It doesn't directly make you think better - the buzz is physiological, from other effects - it just keeps you alert and functioning, even when you ought to be tired.
Here's the problem: when you ingest a significant amount and antagonize adenosine receptors too much, the brain re-regulates by exposing more receptors. Whoops! Those four cups of coffee just aren't doing it for you anymore... better make it five... Eventually, you can't function properly without it, and you'll need it just to feel normal. Ceasing caffeine intake is the only way to get back, and there will be a nasty withdrawal period while you wait for your brain to figure out that it's got too many adenosine receptors and re-regulate again.
I'm not touching the stuff. It's probably fine for an all-nighter or two every once in a while, but not for daily consumption.
I got my Linux laptop at System76.
I will have to record and show you my brother's impersonation of Wilford Brimley doing the diabetes commercial. When he says 'diabeatis', I just lose my shit. Yeah, I'm going to hell.
Finally coffee is not a bad thing.
;^)
For a long time, I was a tea-drinker. I love coffee, but it made me feel terrible. There was the initial huge buzz, tons of productivity, and then WHAM, I felt almost like I should be seeing a doctor for clinical depression. I was actually starting to wonder if there was something wrong with me, physiologically. Then, as I started watching my diet more closely, removing refined sugars and so on, I started feeling better and better. I revisited coffee, but in "pure black" form, because a friend insisted that I was missing out on all of the flavor of "real coffee". While this was true, there was a more important effect for me: I didn't get that low from a blood sugar crash anymore. It makes sense that I didn't feel this way when I was drinking tea, because I didn't add sugar. You can eat carbs-- in fact, for someone like me (an ultradistance runner in my spare time), I eat LOTS of carbs. But very few of them are simple sugars. I make an exception for beer-- maltose isn't quite that simple
On another note, this research sounds amazing. Their next step should be to check if the epidemiological data matches up with their hypothesis. I suspect that the correlation between certain activities and Alzheimers and those same activities and diabetes should be similar.
Depending on where you live, there might not be a spot dark enough within a couple hundred miles. I live in Nashville, and I'd be willing to make a short roadtrip to find a place dark enough to see the stars. Does anyone know of a database dark sites, or how I could find a place near me?
"That which does not kill us makes us stranger." -Trevor Goodchild
I hear they're about to release Duke Nukem Forever ...
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Yeah, but Mountain Dew is 12 cans for 3 bucks, on sale. That shit you're talking about is either expensive, or only available at specialty stores (and probably expensive). I think the convenience issue is the ONLY reason people drink so much soda. It's moderately tasty, cheap, and ubiquitous. The fact it's bad for you isn't too big of a concern because most people don't have time to think or worry about it, and because "moderately tasty" is a lot better than water on most people's charts. And yummy is better than healthy. We love to stimulate our pleasurable senses to the detriment of just about everything else. (That's great as a survival trait but it's almost harmful these days, because it's so easy to do, there's not "natural" moderation to it.)
"That which does not kill us makes us stranger." -Trevor Goodchild
Start here:
http://www.darksky.org/darksky/
Then look here:
http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
- Moderation is the key to food consumption. I don't advocate dropping all the good stuff, that gets too boring and you will likely not stick with it. Have your favorites, but get smaller portions and go for a walk afterwards. Best advice going and would put the diet industry out of business if people were smart enough to follow it.
cheers
P.P.S. I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.
since it is better to forget the beers you drunk instead of spill them!
This article actually makes a lot of sense and might explain a few things in my life. My wife has Type 1 diabetes and she has 2 cousins with it. Her Grandmother currently is suffering from Alzheimer's.
From reading the article, it appears that the problem with teh Alzheimer's patients is more related to type to diabetes, in that the tissue is having problems absorbing the insulin. On the other hand, the article doesn't go into possibilities of not having enough insulin the first place.
If my wife, for instance, were to not take enough insulin, would she have the same Alzheimer's effect has a person with type 2 diabetes?
Another study they should look in to is people with both of these traits in their family tree. While my mother-in-law is does not have diabetes, she maybe a good specimen for study since she is at risk for Alzheimer's and is carrying some receive genes for diabetes.
(Plus if they took her away to be studied, she won't be hanging around our house when her grandchild is born)
Sorry for your struggles, I wish you strength.
I just wish more people knew simple marijuana has been shown effective at preventing this disease...
In the future in the US, we may need to work harder to wrap our minds around such ideas. This is from the September 23 NY Times:
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES -- More Profit and Less Nursing at Many Homes
By CHARLES DUHIGG
Insulated from lawsuits by their corporate structures, private investors in nursing homes have cut expenses and staff, sometimes below minimum requirements.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/business/23nursing.html?th&emc=th
Some studies show that coffee can help reduce the progression of Alzheimer's.
And drinking coffee is associated with a reduced risk of developing alcohol related liver cirrhosis.
I don't drink coffee regularly - I find even a single cup affects me too much.
If you are a regular coffee drinker, you should watch out for headaches that result from caffeine withdrawal - e.g. you stop taking coffee for two or so days and you get this big headache.
But I'm not a doctor.
Don't you worry buddy! Just give it a few more years and you'll have diabetes! Just because a person is able to drive home drunk without causing an accident one night doesn't mean that they won't eventually cause one. Same goes for you, just because you don't have it yet doesn't mean you won't get it. Might take fifty years because of your genes but that's how diabetes works.
it may well be that those bananas, sweet potatoes and chocolate chip cookies played a large role in alzheimer's becoming an issue in the first place.
diabetes is about insulin gone awry. this article indicates that alzheimer's is about insulin gone awry.
insulin tends to go awry because of genetics and/or a diet high in carbohydrates (eg, bananas, sweet potatoes and chocolate chip cookies). usually, but not always, diet can resolve the issue - but the diet must have moderate carbs with a moderate glycemic load to prevent spikes in insulin.
what diet does this? the zone diet. i have mentioned this diet before when someone said they wanted to lose weight, but couldn't and it wasn't their fault because they didn't know how. last i checked, my post received ZERO responses.
we need to learn a bit about the problems with the current dietary recommendation and recognize that they aren't science based.
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/taubes.html
insulin is a hormonal response to protect the brain from excess glucose... when levels rise too high, insulin levels rise and store the glucose, primarily as fat, and locks in the fat stores already in place. glucose is good - it is the main source of brain food. too much is bad and too little is bad. the insulin response is why kids get the "sugar high, sugar crash". adults even get this when they overeat and eat too many carbs (thanksgiving, anyone?). they get massive amounts of carbs causing massive spikes in insulin, causing a reduction in blood glucose and then a crash as the brain no longer gets sufficient glucose to function properly. a starving brain signals hunger and the vicious cycle repeats until one eventually gets over weight.
http://drsears.com/understandingcarbs.page
the zone also works on the eicosanoid level to balance out silent inflammation within the body. aspirin mode is to work on eicosanoids. the zone is like getting all the benefits of aspirin without any of the down sides.
http://drsears.com/understandingeicosanoids.page
science backs up the zone philosophy, too.
http://drsears.com/zoneresearch.page
the anecdotal evidence is nothing short of staggering.
let's start with me. i've lost ~1 lb of pure fat per week since early june. i starting low weight (measured in morning) was 178.5 lbs and my recent low weight was 162 lbs. i've lost 2+ inches of my waist (belly button high). i went from 10 minutes of cardio to exhaustion to 50 minutes without being too winded (legs get tired before wind goes). i've never had this wind in my life - even when i ran cross country in high school. i literally look for ways to burn up my energy.
i've gained lean muscle mass and my strength is up pretty dramatically. my resting heart rate, which was steady at 68, is now 56... and dropping. that's 17,200 fewer beats every day, over 6.3 million fewer beats per year. my tg/hdl ratio is significantly less than 1 (average american is 3.3). i'm about 5-7 lbs away from ripped, abs, the fat has just melted away at about 2 oz. per day. my stomach is already flat and you can see my 4 pack with decent definition already. this is something i could never achieve in my youth (i'm now in my 40s) - and i tried VERY hard. remember, i just lost about 19 lbs of fat in the last 4 months, so 7 more is a layup. my goal was a wahboard stomach before january 1st and i ought to beat that goal handily.
my energy is way up, i
Not according to Snopes:
The change in sweetener wasn't anything that diabolical. Corn syrup was cheaper than cane sugar; that's what it came down to. In 1980, five years before the introduction of New Coke, half the cane sugar in Coca-Cola had been replaced with high fructose corn syrup. By six months prior to New Coke's knocking the original Coca-Cola off the shelves, there was no cane sugar in American Coca-Cola. Whether they knew it or not, what consumers were drinking then was 100% sweetened by high fructose corn syrup.
I'm quite interested in doing this...the NO carb thing didn't work too well..I think it caused some problems I had in the past. What all carbs do you consume? Whole wheat pasta? Veggies?
Please elaborate more detail on this if you would. I need to lower my carb intake (ok, a GOOD beer here and there is excepted), but, I need some...and would like to know good sources.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
While Oregon is the only US state that I know of that permits physician assisted suicide, I've seen other cases where a doctor prescribes enough painkillers to do the job if the patient wishes.
And the US gov't of W. wanted to take that from us....
Am I thinking you're either a douche or do not understand what rhetorical questions are?
http://www.google.com/search?q=coffee+alzheimer
why are the posters editors so lazy they don't take the 15 seconds it took me to provide decent citation information this sort of lazyness infects the web and it is
BAD
at least now you have enough info to track this story accurately
Amyloid beta oligomers induce impairment of neuronal insulin receptors
Wei-Qin Zhao, Fernanda G. De Felice, Sara Fernandez, Hui Chen, Mary P. Lambert, Michael J. Quon, Grant A. Krafft, and William L. Klein
E-mail contact: wei-qin_zhao@northwestern.edu
Recent studies have indicated an association between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and central nervous system (CNS) insulin resistance. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying the link between these two pathologies have not been elucidated. Here we show that signal transduction by neuronal insulin receptors (IR) is strikingly sensitive to disruption by soluble A{beta} oligomers (also known as ADDLs). ADDLs are known to accumulate in AD brain and have recently been implicated as primary candidates for initiating deterioration of synapse function, composition, and structure. Using mature cultures of hippocampal neurons, a preferred model for studies of synaptic cell biology, we found that ADDLs caused a rapid and substantial loss of neuronal surface IRs specifically on dendrites bound by ADDLs. Removal of dendritic IRs was associated with increased receptor immunoreactivity in the cell body, indicating redistribution of the receptors. The neuronal response to insulin, measured by evoked IR tyrosine autophosphorylation, was greatly inhibited by ADDLs. Inhibition also was seen with added glutamate or potassium-induced depolarization. The effects on IR function were completely blocked by NMDA receptor antagonists, tetrodotoxin, and calcium chelator BAPTA-AM. Downstream from the IR, ADDLs induced a phosphorylation of Akt at serine473, a modification associated with neurodegenerative and insulin resistance diseases. These results identify novel factors that affect neuronal IR signaling and suggest that insulin resistance in AD brain is a response to ADDLs, which disrupt insulin signaling and may cause a brain-specific form of diabetes as part of an overall pathogenic impact on CNS synapses.--Zhao, W. Q., De Felice, F. G., Fernandez, S., Chen, H., Lambert, M. P., Quon, M. J., Krafft, G. A., Klein, W. L. Amyloid beta oligomers induce impairment of neuronal insulin receptors.
I for one find the complications of a healthy / unhealthy lifestyle to be a little blurred. Take smoking for example. I smoked for 10 years. Felt like shit because of it. A few years ago I figured I'd kick the habit for good (which I've mostly done minus a few cigarettes a year) and start exercising. You know, get in shape, get active, get healthy. About a year later, I found out that my knee is all fucked up, something called "Runner's knee". Couldn't even walk up stairs without hobbling like an old man. Basically the cartilage under the kneecap is fucked... The Docs said I've got high mileage knees and shouldn't do anything high impact or involving bending the knees. Diagnosis was that I wrecked the cartilage while trying to become a picture of health.
There were a few times I thought to myself if I'd be better off still smoking... I wouldn't have caught the exercise bug that ultimately led to this mechanical deficiency.. I'd be sitting in front of my computer playing video games, no worse for the wear.
Six of one, half dozen of the other. It's all the same in the end. Getting old SUCKS!! Over time, with a very reserved progression of exercising, the knee is getting better, and I'm still not smoking.
There's a warning on all drinks that contain a source of phenylalanine, in the UK at least.
The US and Canada too. On this side of the pond the warning explains who it is addressed to (maybe so does the UK warning): phenylketonurics. Those are people with a genetic/metabolic disease where they can't properly process the amino acid phenylalanine, and it can build up to dangerous levels if they're not careful. To most people though, it's harmless.
It's present in many natural foods but phenylketonurics are expected to know this.
-- Alastair
I felt like I was reading my own life there;)
My current meals after work consist solely of peanut-only peanut butter on whole grain bread and I've kicked the caffeine habit as well. And while the peanut butter is literally 50% fat, altering that and exercising a wee bit has put me under 160 for the first time. (Yeah, I weighed less when I was a little younger, but I also wasn't 6 feet tall).
It's definitely interesting how replacing sugar calories with fat calories actually helps.
Oh. And where do you get the good hard cider (or what brand can I look for)? (I'm a beer junkie, and I typically enjoy Woodchuck's cider varieties, but if there's better stuff, sign me up=))
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
I blame McDonald's and that damn Happy Meal, its got everything you don't need. High fat, high sugar and high sodium.
Aspartame gives me migraines. I think there's ONE kind of yogurt at the local grocery store that I can still eat.
Alzheimer's Facts:
1. A genetic susceptibility to heart attacks = greater susceptibility to Alzheimer's
2. Current thought is that Alzheimer's is caused by amyloid plaque build up in the brain.
3. Epidemiological studies show that folks who take anti-inflammatories have a much lower risk of Alzheimer's than the general population.
4. Populations over 85 that eat the most fish have a 40% reduction in Alzheimer's compared to folks over 85 that don't eat so much fish.
5. Autopsy studies reveal that people killed by Alzheimer's have 30% less DHA in their brains than patients who died of other causes.
6. Studies show that those who consume the most Omega 6 (not to be confused with Omega 3) fatty acids have a 250% increase in the development of Alzheimer's. Omega 6 fatty acids are found in vegetable oils.
7. Middle aged men who have a high level of C-reactive protein have a 300% increased likelilhood of developing Alzheimer's 25 years down the road.
8. The AA/EPA ratio of Alzheimer's patients were twice that of the normal population.
All this means is that there is a strong likelihood that silent inflammation within the body ultimately concludes in a bad case of Alzheimer's for many individuals (anti-inflammatories (drugs, epa in fish) reduce risk of Alzheimer's, pro-inflammatories (omega 6 fatty acids, C-reactive protein is a marker for inflammation) drammatically increase risk of Alzheimer's).
The Zone diet is an anti-inflammatory diet. These facts, along with many other facts (did you know half of all heart attacks occur in patients that have normal cholesterol levels?), can be found in the Anti-Inflammation Zone authored by 20+ year lipid researcher, Dr. Barry Sears (who at one time worked for MIT). TG/HDL is a much better predicter of heart disease - and mine is less than 1. I'm just shy of 5'11", weigh 162 lbs (down from 178.5 in June, 07), lost over 2" off my waist (since June, 07), dropped my resting heart rate from 68 to 50 (since June, 07) through diet and exercise (I have a TON of energy I have to burn off now) and I love my diet. I eat great food, I feel great, my cardio might be the best it has been in my whole life (I'm 41 and I ran cross country in high school - I sucked). My strength has literally doubled since June (from a low starting point). My stomach is flat and I'm a few months away from washboard abs - my stomach is already flat and my 4 pack is peaking through. It has all been basically effortless - all I have to do is plan my meals, enjoy them and exercise to burn off all my excess energy. My worst day in the Zone is better than my best day out of the Zone.
But this would be a fourth type of diabetes. The three regular types would be juvenile, adult onset and the lesser mentioned gestational diabetes which occurs in approximately 1 in 20 pregnancies. Plus, according to wikipedia, there are several more rare types of diabetes.
"...the possibility that Alzheimer's memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes.
:\
Well, I'd hardly call any form of diabetes "novel."
Sure. I'm not a nutritionist, but there is plenty of [reputable] information out there if you want more than I provide.
I basically try to stick to the upper limit of the carb end of the food pyramid (or whatever they call it now), since I am physically active. There are three parts to carbohydrate consumption that you need to consider: what kind, how much, and when.
Regarding what kind-- I basically do not consider high-glycemic foods (usually foods high in refined sugars) as even worth consuming. That's not to say that I don't have an occasional desert or piece of candy, but I try to keep to once a week, or less. Soda is simply verboten for me. I don't substitute soda with diet soda either-- unfortunately, aspartame gives me terrific headaches.
Generally, yes, whole grain foods are a good start. Whole wheat breads, whole wheat pasta (which tastes a lot better than it used to). Rice or barley. I avoid white rice. I'll usually go with brown basmati, short grain brown rice, or wild rice. Beans are another great option for complex carbs. They also contain vast quantities of fiber, which you also want to get. I tend not to eat as many beans as I should. I had an unpleasant experience with raw kidney beans not too long ago (they're poisonous-- now I know), and I've been somewhat turned off by the experience. But I'm working them back in, and unlike my father, I appear to be able to digest them without asphyxiating the rest of the household.
If you have access to a bakery, eating whole grain bread gets a lot more pleasant. The prepackaged crap bread at the store is really an awful analog to fresh bread. Or, for a few bucks, pick up a bread machine. Spend 5 minutes at night dumping a few things into the mixer, and when you wake up in the morning, you have fresh bread! It was one of the best purchases I ever made, and if I had been smart about it, I would have looked at a yard sale first. Those things are everywhere.
As for how much, portion control is a big thing for Americans typically, and I also find myself forgetting to control how much I eat. If you eat high-fiber foods, which are filling, this is less of an issue. Also, as a side note-- with the exception of animal fats and trans-fats, fats are good for you. Keep them in your diet. They help satiate you, and the end result is that you tend to consume fewer calories. The only way to know the answer to the 'how much' question for sure is to calculate your daily calorie expenditure and then attempt to fill your calorie quota. But honestly, I don't think about this part too much.
The 'when' part is also important: carbohydrates provide quick energy to your body, the simplest carbs being the quickest to deliver energy. When do you need the most energy? In the morning. You wake up in a calorie deficit, having sustained your metabolic functions throughout the night without eating. If you are active, this is even more so, as your body has been busy not just running itself, but converting carbohydrates into glycogen and storing it in your muscle tissue. So if you eat carbs in the morning, your body will put them into immediate use. If you eat carbs in the evening, when you are less active, the remainder of unused carbs are stored as fat. For that reason, I eat more carbs in the morning. There is one exception to this: if I am carbo-loading for a race, I basically try to max-out my carb consumption during all waking hours (generally, you body can move 25g of glucose/hour into your bloodstream-- that's about 1 Clif Bar per hour). The kinds of carbs I have in the morning are: fruit, yogurt (which tends to be loaded with sugar), whole grain cereal.
High-glycemic foods are bad on many levels, but the main thing is that your body's insulin response is the main defense against large amounts of sugar in your bloodstream. I could go into details, but I won't-- Suffice it to say, diabetes, which is essentially where your insulin response is disrupted, is awful in the extreme. Talk to a
Regarding staying home and not do stuff and eat crappy food.
My point was that (still haven't read TFA) if it's seen as maybe a third form of diabetes not based on facts in the body but just in life style issues then I doubt it, it just happen that he sits there and eat bad food but it's probably more the lack of action in his life this does it.
I'm thinking i know why you posted as AC. Rhetorical questions posing as substantiation of fact usually warrant this type of humorous response. Now go away or I shall taunt you again!
or so says my Doc who is hounding me because my blood sugar is too high AND I failed a glucose tolerance test by a few points. Basically I'm heading for Type II diabetes if I don't get my shit together quickly. The issue (for most people facing type II) is being over-weight and non-active --- and certainly gene's play a part as well. I'm tall and not exceedingly over-weight (and I've not been exercising) but its obvious my genetic makeup makes me more susceptible than someone who's who is very over-weight - not exercising - etc. Now thats not to say that sugar is full of empty calories or most likely an ingredient in something really fatty and good tasting. BUT SUGAR DOES NOT CAUSE DIABETES - but it can in excess make you over-weight. And sugar is a generic term .... if you're drinking 20 Mt Dews you are not consuming sugar - you're consuming high-fructose-corn-syrup(HFCS). Your body was not designed to deal with HFCS - but is designed to deal with sugar which is a natural product. Natural in the sense that it has not been manipulated at the molecular level like HFCS or those nasty Trans-Fats .... called Trans-Fats because 1 atom was moved from its normal position causing the fat molecule to have different properties. But whoops we learn 40yrs later that moving that one atom causes heart disease.
So the bottom line is the usual common sense wisdom: Eat responsibly - in moderation - and exercise. I'm trying to work on all 3 aspects to avoid diabetes
Its not the years, its the mileage
"We're dealing with a fundamental new connection between two fields, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease..."
Onward to the Grand Unified Disease theory?
Utilization of sugars alone does not cause diabetes. (I'll break this down even further: Sugar is not bad for you.)
Your brain needs 125 to 150 grams of glucose per day, and yet somehow simple carbohydrates are supposed to be bad for you... which they are, if you don't manage your blood sugar with fats & exercise and instead just take it as is. (Yes, doesn't matter if it's table sugar or fruit, or HFCS, for that matter -- all [mostly] the same.)
Paraphrased from here, which goes into some satisfactorily-written sweeping statements (more, put in context). (Basically, if you're not the kind of person who's into that "swanky New Age crap that people post on the Internet," you'll probably blow this off and mod me down -- to which I say, go ahead.)
This was a result of looking into veganism and raw food, *cough* *cough*. (Also, my dad has developed Type II diabetes from spending days running on candy (outside, delivering mail). Doesn't really know about this, though...))
Try ordering some Aloe Vera powder from http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/ . The juice and powders made from aloe vera cactus have some very powerful healing properties for many illnesses and ill health issues. If she cannot swallow a drink made from it you can get some into her bloodstream very quickly by swabbing it on her lips, tongue and inside her mouth. You could even warm her skin with a wet warm washcloth to open the skin pores wide and apply it on there, the larger spot the better. You can introduce many health products in these ways. I encourage you to never take illness lying down. askinventor
Alzheimer's will become the biggest health problem for Boomers and GenX...cancer and cardio less problematic compared to Alzheimer's and age/risk means you have a 50% chance of having it at age 85, higher after this.
Cognitive training plus exercise and some of the newer drugs are probably your best bet.
http://brain.com/
Rather than "NO CARB", try "LOW CARB".. that's scientifically proven to work and it's safe.
Go smart carb not low or no carb.
step-1 if it's not whole grain. you dont eat it. you want brown rice or whole grain rice. you want 100% whole wheat breads, you want whole wheat pasta, etc...
Fruits, eat LOTS of fruits, the ones with fiber are the best for you. veggies, eat the higher fiber veggies and the darker green the better.
Start there. if it's processed to hell and back, dont eat it, look at the package and dont touch any non meat or dairy that does not have any fiber in it, that means it has been processed to death.
Finally, pop. you need to remove it completely from your diet unless you switch to diet (splenda based) or make your own using only pure cane sugar , honey, or natural maple syrup( not the corn syrup that has a maple tree on the label.)
honey is the best for you if you have to have sugar. Bake your own bread and use honey instead and it will not mold for weeks past the store stuff.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I've been working on this...and will take some of your advice to 'fill in' some holes I had.
I may try the home bread thing...as that I find it hard to find 100% whole wheat breads...many have processed flour mixed in with it, and virtuallly ALL breads I read lables on...have HFCS in them for some reason....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
"Alzheimer's .. from the i-forget-why dept" ...really? Some editor suggestions for other ignorant summaries:
.. from the getting-a-leg-up dept" .. from the something-on-your-mind dept" .. from the its-a-growth-industry dept" .. from the its-dead-good dept" .. from the whats-eating-you dept"
"Amputations
"Brain Tumors
"Cancer
"Necrophilia
"Necrotizing Fasciitis
Do some reasearch into the Glycemic Index of the foods you eat. That may help make sense of some things.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.