From the brain to the pancreas: Knowing the different types of diabetes

What if diabetes isn't just about blood sugar

What if this master hormone, insulin, is also fueling your brain, powering memory, and driving thinking

Researchers are discovering types 3 and 5, showing diabetes is not one disease, but a family of conditions

impacting more people in more ways than we ever realized. I think people being aware that diabetes can affect the brain

is a good public health message. Without getting into names, but diabetes and like things can impact the brain

and make it not work. If you start with that, they can hold on to it

Insulin works like a key, unlocking cells to let sugar flow in

and keep your body and brain running. Without it, cells starve, blood sugar spikes

and health problems snowball. Most people know type 1 and type 2

Type 1 is autoimmune. The body destroys insulin-producing cells. Type 2 is about insulin resistance

Your body can't use it properly, and the pancreas eventually can't keep up

Nearly 12% of Americans lived with diabetes in 2021. With numbers this high, researchers are looking beyond blood sugar to how insulin affects the brain

Suzanne De La Monte, professor at Brown University, studies brain insulin resistance and cognitive decline

She says decades of focus on types one and two slowed progress but new studies including on GLP medications like Ozempic and Wagovi are expanding our understanding De La Monte coined type 3 diabetes after noticing that Alzheimer looks like diabetes of the brain And what does insulin do in the brain It increases memory increases

learning. It's involved in behavior. It's essential. And so it's a master hormone for

regulating so many things in the brain. Like type 2, the brain can develop insulin resistance

Cells struggle to get energy leading to memory loss, plaque buildup, and nerve damage

Her studies show insulin-sensitizing drugs like those for type 2 can reduce brain damage in experiments

But not everyone agrees. The Alzheimer's Association cautions that Alzheimer's is not diabetes and labeling it type 3 can be misleading

Research is ongoing, including studies testing diabetes drugs for brain health, but the conditions remain distinct

Other forms of diabetes can be situational. Type 5 or malnutrition-related diabetes hits when chronic undernutrition, especially in childhood, leaves the pancreas underdeveloped and less able to produce insulin

This form is most common in low- and middle-income countries, where malnutrition is widespread and advanced care is limited

Many people don't know they have diabetes until it gets severe. But De La Monte says it all starts with your lifestyle

Understanding that we need to focus on what we eat, how we eat, exercise, as just things we can control

You don't need any doctor to tell you that. You hear it and nobody wants to do it, but you have to be active about it

Read the full story right now on the Straight Arrow News app or on SAN.com

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey