{"id":30530,"date":"2012-09-26T11:44:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T15:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:45:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:45:52","slug":"is-alzheimers-type-3-diabetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530","title":{"rendered":"Is Alzheimer’s Type 3 Diabetes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Times columnist Mark Bittman has added a touch of controversy to the morning with his article, “Is Alzheimer’s Type 3 Diabetes?”<\/a>\u00a0A friend of mine forwarded it to me at the precise moment when I was doing yet another round of research on LADA<\/a>\u00a0— short for “latent autoimmune diabetes in adults” and otherwise known as “diabetes 1.5” — and perhaps as a result, my immediate response was not one of fascination, but of fatigue. “Really?” I thought to myself. “There’s another goddamn type of diabetes?”<\/p>\n

But it turns out, as is so often the case in journalism, that the headline is misleading. Bittman is not actually proposing that Alzheimer’s is a form of diabetes. He’s suggesting, rather, that it could be a complication. To quote:\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Diabetes causes complications too numerous to mention, but they include heart disease, which\u00a0<\/span>remains our No. 1 killer<\/a>. And when the cells in your brain become insulin-resistant, you start to lose memory and become disoriented. You even might lose aspects of your personality.<\/span><\/p>\n

“In short, it appears, you develop Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

“A neuropathologist named\u00a0Alois Alzheimer<\/a>\u00a0noticed, over a century ago, that an odd form of protein was taking the place of normal brain cells. How those beta amyloid plaques (as they\u2019re called) get there has been a mystery. What\u2019s becoming clear, however, is that a lack of insulin \u2014 or insulin resistance \u2014 not only impairs cognition but seems to be implicated in the formation of those plaques.”<\/p>\n

In other words, he’s pointing out that insulin resistance, which can be caused and exacerbated by diets that are high in simple carbs (think sodas and junk food), might be affecting the function of our neurons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am not an expert in this area, but the argument — that diet could affect our brains — does sound plausible, though I think it’s irresponsible copyediting to run that headline about “Type 3.” Regardless of how strong the connection actually is between insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s, I think that Bittman’s final suggestion is a sound one. He writes:<\/p>\n

“Adopting a sane diet, a diet contrary to the standard American diet (which I like to refer to as SAD), would appear to give you a far better shot at avoiding diabetes in all of its forms, along with its dreaded complications. There are, as usual, arguments to be made for enlisting government help in that struggle, but for now, put down that soda!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[1255],"yoast_head":"\nIs Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New York Times columnist Mark Bittman has added a touch of controversy to the morning with his article, "Is Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes?"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine Price\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530\",\"name\":\"Is Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-26T15:44:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-27T20:45:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f16ebb52b0d6b1882336149c48618b74\"},\"description\":\"New York Times columnist Mark Bittman has added a touch of controversy to the morning with his article, \\\"Is Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes?\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ASL-Social-Big-Square-3.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30530#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Alzheimer’s Type 3 Diabetes?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f16ebb52b0d6b1882336149c48618b74\",\"name\":\"Catherine Price\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/991f86d105bb54022be9be587aa788fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/991f86d105bb54022be9be587aa788fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine Price\"},\"description\":\"Catherine Price was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. 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