Metabolic syndrome and mental health
Message: Managing insulin resistance can help prevent mental problems
The metabolic syndrome’s area of influence seems to be growing startlingly fast. Latest research revealed its link to mental health problems. Researchers discovered that insulin resistance can be “in your head” and created a new medical term, the “type 3 diabetes” referring to the newly discovered insulin receptors in the brain.
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital showed that insulin resistance is tied to neurodegeneration. A drop in insulin production in the hippocampus — the part of the brain responsible for memory — can contribute to early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. In the frontal cortex of the brain, a major area affected by Alzheimer’s, the levels of insulin receptors and the brain’s ability to respond to insulin decreased.
Whether or not an insulin shortage causes a breakdown in brain cell communication, which would explain another brain disease, schizophrenia, remains unknown, but people with schizophrenia are at least twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. ”There’s a whole series of steps that may prevent the schizophrenic brain from responding to insulin,” said Dr Altar of the Psychiatric Genomics Center in Boston, which is now focusing on potential treatments for schizophrenia.
Sources:
- Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 2007;23:29-34
- JAMA. 2004; 292:2237-2242
- J Alzheimer’s Disease; March 2005
- J Alzheimer’s Disease; November 2005
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Sihen
VERY INTERESTING QUESTION!I have wondered the same thing as my bipolar is clearly a medical issue and I respond well and quickly to medication. “Therapy” would do me absolutely no good since the problem is clearly chemical. Not only that, but the mood stabilizer I take is also used to treat epilepsy as well (and was originally designed to treat it)So… why the distinction between the two, since they both involve the brain? Oh, and MRIs of Schizophrenic patients DO show abnormalities, so I don’t understand why it’s not considered a brain disease, rather than a mental disorder. Again, very interesting question and one I have been meaning to ask myself because of the stigma of mental illness. Why not epilepsy too? Some forms of epilepsy include seizures that disorient the individual (no convulsions, just staring into space) and cause mood changes as well. There are so many different types of seizures, yet they are not considered a mental illness. +5
105Coopey
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