Diabetes sufferers at risk from Alzheimer's

People with diabetes are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, scientists said today.

In an American study, diabetes sufferers were 65% more likely to develop the incurable debilitating brain disease.

Researchers from Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago studied 824 Catholic nuns, priests, and brothers over the age of 55 for up to nine years. Of those, 127 had diabetes.

Over an average of five and a half years, 151 study participants developed Alzheimer’s disease, of whom 31 had diabetes.

It was found that those with diabetes were 65% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, according to the study published in the latest issue of Archives of Neurology.

Participants with diabetes also had lower levels of cognition and had more memory problems.

Authors Dr Zoe Arvanitakis and Dr David Bennett concluded: “These findings suggest that diabetes mellitus is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and decline in cognitive function in older persons.”

Previous research has linked diabetes with memory problems and diabetes is known to damage blood vessels that supply the brain.

But studies looking specifically at diabetes and Alzheimer’s have had conflicting results.

William Thies, vice-president for medical and scientific affairs at the US-based Alzheimer’s Association, called the study “a powerful argument for doing everything you can to control your blood sugar”.

It is not clear exactly how diabetes leads to Alzheimer’s disease.

Some scientists believe the excess of glucose in the brain could damage cells although there is no firm evidence to back up this theory.

A recent study involving mice suggested that insulin abnormalities in diabetes might affect a protein called tau, which in Alzheimer’s forms tangles in brain cells.