People with high blood sugar levels are more likely to have memory
problems, reveals study published in Neurology. The study involved 141
people with an average age of 63 who did not have diabetes or
pre-diabetes, which is also called impaired glucose tolerance. People
who were overweight, drank more than three-and-a-half servings of
alcohol per day, and those who had memory and thinking impairment were
not included in the study.The participants'' memory skills were tested, along with their blood
glucose, or sugar, levels. Participants also had brain scans to measure
the size of the hippocampus area of the brain, which plays an important
role in memory. People with lower blood sugar levels were more likely to have better
scores on the memory tests. On a test where participants needed to
recall a list of 15 words 30 minutes after hearing them, recalling fewer
words was associated with higher blood sugar levels. For example, an
increase of about seven mmol/mol of a long-term marker of glucose
control called HbA1c went along with recalling two fewer words. People
with higher blood sugar levels also had smaller volumes in the
hippocampus. "These results suggest that even for people within the normal range of
blood sugar, lowering their blood sugar levels could be a promising
strategy for preventing memory problems and cognitive decline as they
age," said study author Agnes Fll, MD, of Charit University Medicine in
Berlin, Germany. "Strategies such as lowering calorie intake and
increasing physical activity should be tested." The study was supported by the German Research Foundation, the Else
Kraner-Fresenius Foundation and the German Ministry of Education and
Research. To learn more about brain health, please visit www.aan.com/patients. The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 26,000
neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting
the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a
doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing
disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer''s disease,
stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson''s disease
and epilepsy. Source-Newswise
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