New research (from the Journal of the American Medical Association 2009) suggests a link between dangerously low blood sugar and dementia in older patients with type 2 diabetes raises more questions about the strategy of aggressively treating diabetes patients to achieve tight glycaemic control.
Older patients in the study whose blood sugar fell so low that they ended up in the hospital were found to have a higher risk for dementia than patients with no history of treatment for low blood sugar.
Having uncontrolled diabetes is associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease and other age-related dementias in elderly patients but this new study suggests such treatment may do more harm than good in older patients if blood sugar levels drop to very low levels.
Several other recent high-profile studies have raised similar concerns.
Researcher Rachel Whitmer, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., says understanding the impact of blood sugar on cognitive function is older patients is critical.
"We are in the midst of an epidemic of type 2 diabetes and we are going to see more dementia than we have ever seen before as these patients age. We really have to get a handle on the role of glycaemic control in this."
The study included 16,667 patients with type 2 diabetes enrolled in a northern California diabetes registry. The average age of the patients at study entry was 65.
Whitmer and colleagues examined more than two decades of medical records to determine whether the participants had ever been hospitalized or treated in a hospital emergency department for hypoglycaemia.
Symptoms of hypoglycaemia can include dizziness, disorientation, fainting, and even seizures. Mild to moderate episodes often don't require treatment, but severe episodes can lead to hospitalization.
None of the study participants had a diagnosis of dementia when they were enrolled in the study in 2003. Four years later, however, 1,822 of the more than 16,600 patients (11%) had been diagnosed with dementia.
Compared to patients with no history of low blood sugar requiring treatment, patients with a single episode of hospital-treated hypoglycaemia were found to have a 26% increase in dementia risk.
Patients treated three or more times for hypoglycaemia had nearly double the dementia risk of patients who had never been treated.
This confirms what I have been saying in The Alzheimer's Alternative - control your blood sugar and if need be supplement with 200mcg of chromium picolinate!
Dr. Steffan H. Abel D.C. has been involved in Chiropractic and healthcare research for over 20 years. He has run his own successful practice in the north of England for the last 19 years. During which time he has treated over 10,000 patients and given over 100,000 treatments. He has lectured and taught extensively in both Europe and America to students, chiropractors and medical doctors.
He has studied Hypnotherapy, N.L.P. and qualified as a Life Coach. He has also studied various Chiropractic-based treatments (gaining a M.Sc. in post graduate Clinical Chiropractic in 2003) as well as energy therapies such as Seichem and Reiki. In 2001 he became a Fellow of the College of Chiropractors and a Fellow of the Association of Osteomyology and in 2007 became a Fellow of the European Academy of Chiropractic.
In his spare time he spends between 15 and 25 hours per week researching all areas of “alternative” and allopathic healthcare in order to bring the best advice to his patients through his practice and writing. When not working he is to be found enjoying life with Sue, his partner, – whom he loves tremendously!