fbpx

Important Brain Implications for Obesity in Diabetics

Important Brain Implications for Obesity in Diabetics
By Team Perlmutter
Category: Science

Scientific research definitively supports the relationship that results in less adequate control of blood sugar in type 2 diabetics when one is also overweight or obese. This is the reason why health care providers are focused on helping their diabetic patients lose weight.

In addition, we’ve known for some time that having diabetes, as well as being overweight or obese, is independently associated with reductions in brain substance, as well as cognitive decline.

But the burning question seems to be whether or not these two conditions, diabetes and obesity, are additive. In other words, are the brain issues worse if a person has both problems?

To study this question, researchers in South Korea studied 50 overweight/obese individuals with type 2 diabetes, 50 normal weight individuals with type 2 diabetes, and 50 participants without weight issues or diabetes. The participants underwent evaluation of their cognitive function, close measurement of their blood sugars, and MRI evaluations to study the structure of their brains.

What the researchers found was truly profound. They noted significant brain changes with thinning of the brain’s cortex and disruption of the deep white matter as well as a reduction in brain function, even in the early stages of type 2 diabetes when excess weight was present. The authors concluded:

An increased awareness of overweight/obesity-related risk is necessary to prevent and manage type 2 diabetes-related brain atrophy and cognitive dysfunction from early stage type 2 diabetes onward.

So, while it is a well-accepted notion that diabetics who are overweight/obese can improve their blood sugar control by losing weight, the relationship between diabetes and overweight/obesity to brain shrinkage and reduced functionality that these researchers discovered makes weight control an even more important goal.

Related Topics

Type 2 Diabetes  Obesity  

Share This

Widget

Dr. Perlmutter is one of the leading lights in medicine today, illuminating the path for solving chronic illness

Mark Hyman, MD