Glucose Control Improves Cognitive Function

blue brainAnother study has come to our attention that reinforces the importance of keeping glucose low for improved cognitive function.

The brain in the age of old: The hippocampal formation is targeted differentially by diseases of late life

Annals of Neurology 2008; 64: 698-707. Wu W, Brickman AM, Luchsinger J, Ferrazzano P, Pichiule P, et al.

Methods

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to document brain infarcts (areas of tissue that undergo necrosis as a result of local blood supply obstruction) and to generate high-resolution functional maps of the hippocampal formation in 240 community-based nondemented elders (mean age, 79.7 years) who received a comprehensive medical evaluation. Sixty participants had type 2 diabetes mellitus, whereas 74 had MRI-documented brain infarcts, and the first analysis was designed to pinpoint hippocampal subregions differentially linked to each disorder. Then, guided by the results, additional functional MRI studies in aging rhesus monkeys and mice were used to test proposed mechanisms of dysfunction.

Interpretation

Taken together with previous findings, these results clarify how diseases of late life differentially target the hippocampal formation, identify elevations in blood glucose as a contributing cause of age-related memory decline, and suggest specific interventions that can preserve cognitive health.

(Actually when the researchers went on to suggest specific interventions, the paper was a bit anti-climatic. The only suggested intervention was exercise, something CR Way members understand quite well).

As many know, maintaining low glucose levels is an integral part of the Brain Booster program. In fact, The CR Way to Great Glucose Control, the groundbreaking course in controlling glucose levels, has just been added as a benefit of the Brain Booster membership.

In this study, the researchers looked at whether lowering glucose levels would contribute to improved formation of new memories as well as improved function in the hippocampus such as better control of information flow.

The cohort of senior citizens, without dementia, who underwent MRI scans showed higher levels of blood glucose were related to dysfunction in the dentate gyrus, an area of the hippocampus that, when compromised, has been shown to cause cognitive decline.

The results were confirmed by imaging aging Rhesus monkeys and a mouse model of hyperglycemia.

In the full paper the investigators wrote,

Our results suggest that improving glucose metabolism is a clinically tractable approach for ameliorating the cognitive slide that occurs in all of us as we age.

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