Diabetes and the Risk of Forgetting

People who live with diabetes face a higher chance of losing memory. A recent study looked at nearly 284, 000 adults and found that those with type 1 diabetes were almost three times more likely to develop dementia than people without the disease. Those with type 2 diabetes were twice as likely. The research is among the first to connect dementia to type 1 diabetes. Type 1 occurs when the body stops producing insulin because of an autoimmune attack. Only about 5 % of all diabetes cases are type 1; the rest are type 2, where insulin is made but not used properly.During more than two years of follow‑up, 3 % of type 1 patients and 2 % of type 2 patients developed dementia. This translates to a 2. 8‑fold increase for type 1 and a two‑fold rise for type 2. In fact, about 65 % of dementia cases in people with type 2 could be traced back to the disease itself. Scientists think high blood sugar can damage brain cells, lead to harmful protein build‑ups linked to Alzheimer’s, or harm blood vessels and cause strokes—all of which raise dementia risk. Even though type 1 diabetes is rare, the number of older adults with this condition is growing. The findings stress how important it is to learn how type 1 affects brain health and find ways to slow or stop dementia in this group.