Alzheimer’s and dementia are serious mental diseases that affect millions of people. It’s a serious problem, and for the first time ever we have found a tipping point on the disease.
Alzheimer’s and dementia aren’t new diseases. They have been around for quite some time now, but the number of people affected has steadily increased over time. More people are affected by this detrimental disease than ever, and many people have different ideas about what might be causing it. Today we are fed processed foods more than anything and many people believe it might be what is causing the increase in disease.
Scientists, researchers, and doctors have been researching the cause of Alzheimer’s for quite some time now. The big pharma industry has stood in the way for a while because it is one of their biggest money making businesses. They’re in the business of treating health issues not curing them. However, research has indicated that Alzheimer’s is linked to blood glucose levels. Excess glucose levels have been linked to damaging a vital enzyme that is involved with inflammation response to the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
Diabetes patients have even been found to have an increased risk for acquiring this disease compared to healthy people. People with diabetes are more likely to experience abnormal proteins aggregate to form plaque and get stuck in the brain which causes damage. It additionally causes severe cognitive decline. They know that glucose breaks down products that damage proteins via glycation. But they just figured out the link between Alzheimer’s and Glucose.
Scientists from the University of Bath Departments of Biology and Biochemistry, Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Pharmacology worked with researchers at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King’s College in London have studied this link.
They found a sensitive technique that detects glycation and they found an enzyme that glycation specifically damages. It is called MIF (Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor). This enzyme plays a major role in the immune system and insulin regulation.
Professor Jean van den Elsen, from the University of Bath Department of Biology and Biochemistry, said: “We’ve shown that this enzyme is already modified by glucose in the brains of individuals at the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. We are now investigating if we can detect similar changes in the blood.
“Normally MIF would be part of the immune response to the build-up of abnormal proteins in the brain, and we think that because sugar damage reduces some MIF functions and completely inhibits others that this could be a tipping point that allows Alzheimer’s to develop.
Dr. Rob Williams, also from the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, added: “Knowing this will be vital to developing a chronology of how Alzheimer’s progresses and we hope will help us identify those at risk of Alzheimer’s and lead to new treatments or ways to prevent the disease.
Dr. Omar Kassaar, from the University of Bath, added: “Excess sugar is well known to be bad for us when it comes to diabetes and obesity, but this potential link with Alzheimer’s disease is yet another reason that we should be controlling our sugar intake in our diets.”