Diabetes makes the brain fizzy: study

Toronto, Canada, January 6: According to a study, high blood sugar can take a toll on memory causing trouble in the mental processing of adults in all ages.

Researchers from the University of Alberta analyzed a cross section of people with and without diabetes. They tracked 41 adults with Type 2 diabetesdefine and 424 in good health. All the participants were in the age group of 43-90 years.

In the three-year interval Roger Dixon, co-author of the study, and his team assessed the biomedical, health, cognitive and nuerocognitive aspects of aging. They found that healthy adults performed better in executive functions and speed of thought. This includes ability to focus, working with new information and solving problems and giving thoughtful answers to questions.

Roger Dixon declared, “Speed and executive functioning are thought to be among the major components of cognitive health."

The research confirmed that diabetes impairs mental functioning. The difference was not in terms of memory, verbal fluency or reaction time. The deterioration was no better in younger adults with the disease than in the older group. There were very few differences between adults under and over the age of 70 years, suggesting that the changes occur early.

Dixon stated, "There could be some ways to compensate for these declines, at least early and with proper management."

Diabetes dulls patients mental functioning right from the onset of the ailment and persists through old age. Diabetes is known to cause the risk of Alzheimer and is also linked to heart disease, stroke, amputations, kidney failure and blindness. High blood sugar levels damage blood vessels and nerves, damaging many organs.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes cases have nearly doubled. In the past decade, there has been one new case for every 100 adults. About 194 million people worldwide are afflicted by diabetes, and the World Health Organization expects the number to rise to more than 300 million by 2025.

The study was published in the Journal Nueropsychology.