Type 2 Diabetes - The Connection Between Controlling Your Blood Sugar and a Healthy Brain

Diabetes has been associated with dementia and changes in brain anatomy, but so far it's unclear what changes come about when blood sugar levels are poorly controlled. Researchers at Maastricht University Medical Center in Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands, reviewed the literature reporting on the subject so far - in order to gain insight as to blood sugar control and the brain.Their study, reported on in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, in August 2014, included 86 papers on...

blood sugar levels,

insulin concentration,

insulin resistance,

diabetes treatments and how they might affect the brain.
It was found blood sugar levels, changes in these levels, and high HbA1c levels, were associated with difficulties in brain function. On the other hand, HbA1c levels only accounted for less than 10 percent of differences in patient's scores on tests of their mental abilities.According to a report published in Diabetes Care August 2014, insulin resistance, the cause of Type 2 diabetes, could affect how much iron is found in the brain. Investigators at the Girona Biomedical Research Institute in Girona, Catalonia, Spain and other research centers in Spain, compared magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of brains affected by insulin resistance in 13 obese and 20 non-obese women. It was found obese individuals had more iron in certain areas of their brain than did non-obese women. Insulin resistance was associated with having too much iron in the brain and with poor results on tests of mental skills.


In June 2014 the journal Neuropsychopharmacology reported the results of a study on insulin resistance, diabetes, and the brain in manic-depressive disorders. Researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and other investigative centers compared brain structures using brain MRIs of people with...

manic depressive disorders and either insulin resistance or full-blown Type 2 diabetes,
of people with...

depressive disorders and normal blood sugar levels, and
participants with...

normal blood sugar levels and no psychiatric diagnoses.
It was found amongst those people with manic depressive disorders and those with insulin resistance or diabetes, had less brain matter than those with normal blood sugar levels.From this information it was suggested keeping blood sugar levels and insulin resistance under control could be one good way of preventing brain shrinkage in people with manic depressive disorders. If controlling Type 2 diabetes is ideal for anyone who has been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, it is not too far-fetched to think it is likely to help prevent shrinkage in the brain of the mentally healthy as well.