
Is Diet-Induced Alzheimer’s Disease Type 3 Diabetes? - fasteo
http://sage.buckinstitute.org/food-for-thought/
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rhondapatrick
It's really important to not forget the genetic factors at play in
Alzheimer's. Between 65-80% of all Alzheimer's patients have at least one
genetic version of the ApoE4 allele, a genotype found in around 25% of the
population [1]. ApoE is made in astrocytes and is involved in cholesterol
transport to neurons and in repairing damage done to neurons that occurs with
normal aging. That isn't to say there isn't a dietary link or that critical
lifestyle factors don't interact with these genetics, however! Insulin
resistance leads to inflammation (which has been shown to accelerate brain
aging) and may be one way in which type 2 diabetes is linked with Alzheimer's.
I think calling Alzheimer's disease "type 3 diabetes" may be a somewhat
dramatic oversimplification and a bit misleading, though, since the mechanism
would be a bit more general (in this case).

[1]:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21787325](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21787325)

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0xcde4c3db
Is diet-induced (or even diet-associated) Alzheimer's Disease a proven
phenomenon in the first place? The article seems to be pretty speculative on
the whole thing, and I'm under the impression that the research on lifestyle
risk factors is quite inconclusive (e.g. risk factors show up in ecological
studies but produce no significant difference in controlled intervention
trials).

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rhinoceraptor
There is evidence of the neuroprotective effects of a ketogenic diet (low
carb, moderate protein, very high fat) [1][2]. The original formulation of the
ketogenic diet was for epilepsy, after all [3].

The dogma for decades has been that the brain needs glucose to function. A
highly simplified and inaccurate explanation of Alzheimer's is that the brain
has diminished capacity to use glucose.

Luckily, the body has an alternate fuel source: ketones. The problem is most
people never enter ketosis, where the body is depleted of glycogen and resorts
to converting fat to ketone bodies.

[1]:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367001/)

[2]:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3826507/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3826507/)

[3]:
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133288/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133288/)

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gavazzy
Blindly encouraging a ketogenic diet can actually be damaging. While the
average person _slightly_ benefits from a high-fat, low-carb diet, a small
group of people (who have the APOE4 allele) are _unable to properly digest
fat_ and thus are _greatly_ harmed by it.

Similarly, light alcohol consumption seems to slightly benefit the majority of
people. But, for those with APOE4, it causes significant harm. So, tonic for
one group is toxic to another.

It is far better if Alzheimer's treatment is prescribed on a case-by-case
basis, based on genetic, environmental, and familial factors. This maximizes
the outcomes for all, and not just the average.

~~~
tptacek
Isn't this a little like saying that blindly encouraging the consumption of
healthful tree nuts is damaging to people who are allergic to tree nuts?

True, that is, but not at all interesting?

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gavazzy
The effects of tree nut allergies are acute and visible, but the effects of
APOE genotype are chronic and insidious. Further, genetic testing is readily
available and cheap ($99), so that the cost of determining whether someone
should have a low-fat or high-fat diet is far outweighed by the benefits of:

a) lowered risk of alzheimer's b) lowered risk of calcified deposits c)
lowered risk of stroke

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fallous
I'm willing to consider that Alzheimer's Disease may be affected by diet, but
this article seems awfully slim on real data and in one instance seems to
diverge from actual experimental results.

They claim that Type-2 diabetes and AD are "exacerbated by high fat diets",
but the link with regards to the diabetes study specifies diet-induced
obesity, not "high fat" diet. Dietary fat has much less effect on blood
glucose levels than carbohydrates, so insulin's role is markedly decreased.

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atomical
A steak causes the release of as much insulin as pure sugar.

Also, [http://nutritionfacts.org/video/lipotoxicity-how-
saturated-f...](http://nutritionfacts.org/video/lipotoxicity-how-saturated-
fat-raises-blood-sugar/)

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rubyfan
Anyone have a mirror? Link seems down.

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tiatia
[Linked Page seems to be down]

I once read tha claim that wheat causes Alzheimer's.

The idea that Alzheimer is Type 3 diabetes it not new. I also remember a paper
which claimed that nasal applied insulin improves Alzheimer symptoms.

Assuming that Alzheimer could be a type of diabetes and taken into account a
connection between Diabetes I and Celiac disease, the idea that Wheat
consumption could trigger Alzheimer is not absurd.

