Can Brains Be Insulin Resistant?

“The higher the blood sugar, the high the brain sugar,” says Psychiatrist Georgia Ede MD. “If your blood sugar is going too high too often so is your brain sugar. But remember that your insulin will plateau at a certain point.”

A recent study out of BYU has linked lifestyle choice to Alzheimer’s disease. “Growing evidence that the brains in humans with Alzheimer’s disease are deficient in the use of glucose,” tweeted one of our friends, and colleagues, Dr. Lori Shemek PhD.

As the brain becomes more insulin resistant, it can’t take in glucose anymore. Brain insulin resistance is a common and early feature of Alzheimer’s disease, closely tied to cognitive decline and capable of promoting many biological abnormalities in the disorder.

“While swimming in a sea of glucose, your brain can literally starve to death,” says Psychiatrist Georgia Ede MD.

While not affecting neuronal glucose uptake, brain insulin resistance in AD is similar to muscle insulin resistance in Type 2 diabetes (T2D). In both circumstances, insulin is much less able to activate a specific signaling pathway than is normally the case.

 

 

Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast guests include Asha Brown, Maximize Your Metabolism Co-Authors Dr. Noel Maclaren and Sunita Singh Maclaren, Trisha Artman, Dana B. Roseman, MPH, CDCES, RDN, Know Diabetes By Heart’s Karen Dawson and Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE.

In 1985, Barbra Streisand returned to her roots with the release of her twenty-fourth album, The Broadway Album. Having decided that Broadway musicals were no longer in the same league as some of the more commercial music dominating the charts in the early ‘70s, Streisand ended up taking an unforeseen fifteen-year break from Broadway and show tunes. This return to her “roots” was a shock to many, worrisome for some, but ultimately a massive success, both critically and commercially.

It’s almost time to raise the curtains again in New York City, says Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Broadway needs to come back, and we will move heaven and earth to bring Broadway back,” he said. New York City’s theaters have been shut down for more than a year, since Mar. 12, 2020.

Throughout the podcast, we will be featuring music from Barbra Streisand’s The Broadway Album courtesy of SONY Music.

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Tony Bennett Battles Alzheimer’s Disease

Tony Bennett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, his wife, Susan, told AARP The Magazine.

According to his family, the 18 time GRAMMY winner is taking each day one note at time. Bennett’s greatest therapy is singing. He rehearses twice a week.

“He has devoted his whole life to the Great American songbook and now the songbook is saving him,” Susan Bennett told CBS This Morning.

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease characterized by progressive memory loss that affects speech, understanding, and recognition of family and friends.

More than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, including one in 10 people age 65 or older.

There’s research suggesting a link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s, suggesting that people with diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, are at higher risk of eventually developing Alzheimer’s dementia or other dementias.

Alzheimer’s symptoms may initially include repeating questions, getting lost in a familiar place or misplacing things, and may eventually progress to hallucinations, angry outbursts, and the inability to recognize family and friends or communicate at all. Alzheimer’s has no cure.

Tony Bennett, first diagnosed in 2016, has so far been spared the disorientation and the episodes of terror, rage  and/or depression.

Susan Bennett said that he can still recognize family members, but the magazine reported that “mundane objects as familiar as a fork or a set of house keys can be utterly mysterious to him.”

His diagnosis hasn’t stopped him from performing. According to People Magazine the 94 year old singer has has concert dates scheduled for later this year, with the first in March.

“It kept him on his toes and also stimulated his brain in a significant way,” Bennett’s neurologist, Gayatri Devi told AARP The Magazine. “He is doing so many things, at 94, that many people without dementia cannot do. He really is the symbol of hope for someone with a cognitive disorder.”

“He’s not the old Tony anymore,” his wife, Susan, said. “But when he sings, he’s the old Tony.”

Bennett’s family kept his secret for four years, but decided to break their silence now with the release of his new album. The disclosure is a way to remove some of the stigma associated with the incurable disease, they said.

“Being open about a diagnosis in such a public manner takes great courage and compassion,” said Beth Kallmyer, vice president for care and support with the Alzheimer’s Association.

Editor’s note: It has not been reported that Tony Bennett is living with diabetes.