The Brain and Blood Sugar Connection (SCARY!)

The dangers of long-term prediabetes

If you’ve been diagnosed with prediabetes, you might breathe a sigh of relief thinking you’ve dodged the “diabetes bullet.” 

That might be the case — for now.  

But there are plenty of other reasons to get your blood sugar levels under control… and fast. 

The most recent reason has to do with an alarming connection between your blood sugar and your brain. 

….AD/JUMP…. 

For this study, 714 subjects from 55-70 years old were followed for 12 years. Glucose tolerance tests determined blood glucose levels, and a number of different tests were used to assess cognitive performance. 

Compared to people with normal blood sugar, those who had long-lasting prediabetes had a significantly greater decline on the verbal fluency test. 

Those with type 2 diabetes had a significantly greater decline on a trail-making test and a wordlist learning test. 

A combined group of diabetics and prediabetics had a significantly greater decline in verbal fluency. 

So ultimately, the research team concluded that prediabetes is associated with cognitive decline during aging. 

This study wasn’t an isolated study. Others have also found a connection between pre-diabetes, diabetes and deficits in global cognitive function, processing speed, and executive functioning. 

These are alarming findings, considering 88 million people are estimated to be prediabetic. 

The bottom line is that there is no “safe” level of elevated blood sugar. 

The good news is that there’s still time to get your blood sugar levels under control and restore your insulin sensitivity. 

Don’t wait until you’ve graduated to full-blown diabetes to get serious about your blood sugar.  

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about one of the easiest ways I’ve found to improve your insulin sensitivity—and ultimately, your blood sugar levels. 

Stay tuned.