Diabetes was shown to age the brain.
A recent study utilizing MRI scans has revealed that diabetes can make the brain appear up to four years older. Conducted by Swedish researchers, the study suggests that adopting a healthy lifestyle may mitigate this accelerated brain aging.
Abigail Dove, the study’s lead author and a neurobiology graduate student at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, highlighted the implications of the findings. “An older-looking brain relative to one’s chronological age might signal a deviation from typical aging processes and could serve as an early indicator of dementia,” she said. “On the bright side, individuals with diabetes might be able to positively impact their brain health through lifestyle changes.”
The research, published on August 28 in the journal Diabetes Care, aimed to explore the effects of diabetes and prediabetes on brain health, particularly in those who have not yet developed dementia. Previous knowledge has established type 2 diabetes as a risk factor for dementia, but its impact on individuals without dementia was less understood.
The study analyzed MRI brain scans from over 31,000 individuals aged 40 to 70, all participants in the U.K. Biobank database. Using artificial intelligence, Dove and her team assessed the “brain age” of each participant.
Their findings revealed that individuals with prediabetes had an average brain age that was six months older than those without the condition. Those with diabetes had an average brain age 2.3 years older, and those with poorly controlled diabetes had brains that appeared four years older than their non-diabetic counterparts.
On a positive note, the study found that individuals who engaged in regular physical activity and avoided smoking or excessive drinking had significantly less brain aging.
Dove emphasized the growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes and expressed hope that their research could help in preventing cognitive decline and dementia in those with diabetes and prediabetes.
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