Link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease

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What's the evidence that diabetes could be a factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease? If so, what can you do to decrease the risk?
Here are now 17.5 million people with diabetes in North America and 5.5 million suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It's estimated that by 2050 the number of diabetes patients will reach 32 million and 18 million will have Alzheimer's.These huge numbers make you wonder if the diseases share a connection.

Researchers in Chicago studied 842 older Catholic nuns, priests and brothers who had diabetes. None had any sign of Alzheimer's disease at the start, but nine years later 151 had developed this disease.
Another study published in the Archives of Neurology in 2004 claimed that those with Type 2 diabetes had a 65% greater chance of developing Alzheimer's disease. But how does Type 2 diabetes increase this risk?
Dr. Gregory Cole, a researcher at the University of California, says that excess weight causes not only diabetes, but also insulin resistance in which cells do not respond to the hormone insulin.
Insulin normally transports sugar (glucose) into cells where it's used as energy. But when insulin resistance occurs, cells fail to get sufficient sugar. And brain cells starved of sugar may either malfunction or die, setting the stage for Alzheimer's disease.
Cole suggests the entire process may be kicked off by too much fat in the diet. In one experiment Cole fed rats a high-fat diet causing insulin resistance. This in turn resulted in a buildup of poisonous protein called beta amyloid.
Beta amyloid clumps together, damaging brain cells and the connections between them. This is believed to play a major role in memory loss.
We also know that diabetes results in atherosclerosis, a narrowing of arteries which results in a decrease of oxygenated blood to organs. This is why so many diabetics die from heart attack, blindness, kidney failure and gangrene of the legs. Without oxygen we die. And brain cells are even more dependant on an adequate supply of oxygen.
Undoubtedly other factors play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. But this research shows again what we so often see in medicine, one problem leading to another often bigger one. In this case it's a huge one.
A report from the World Health Organization shows that 75% of Americans over the age of 50 have insulin resistance. Not surprising, since obesity is so rampant in the U.S. where every meal is super-size.

PREVENT IT

1. If you're overweight, take it seriously and lose pounds. Even a modest loss of 10 pounds can either improve or prevent insulin resistance.
2. Build activity into your life by walking, running or biking. Exercise helps insulin to be more efficient.
3. Concentrate on a low-fat diet that contains whole grains, fruits and vegetables and fish (fish contains healthy omega-3 fatty acids, a fat that may help to lower the risk of Alzheimer's).

You don't know you're gaining weight if you don't have a scale!