FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON October 23, 2013
Lower Blood Sugars May Be Good for the Brain
MINNEAPOLIS -
Even for people who don鈥檛 have diabetes or high blood sugar, those with higher blood sugar levels are more likely to have memory problems, according to a new study published in the October 23, 2013, online issue of the medical journal of the . 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鈥 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 7 mmol/mol of a long-term marker of glucose control called HbA1c went along with recalling 2 fewer words. People with higher blood sugar levels also had smaller volumes in the hippocampus. 鈥淭hese 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,鈥 said study author Agnes Fl枚el, MD, of Charit茅 University Medicine in Berlin, Germany. 鈥淪trategies such as lowering calorie intake and increasing physical activity should be tested.鈥 The study was supported by the German Research Foundation, the Else Kr枚ner-Fresenius Foundation and the German Ministry of 好色先生 and Research. To learn more about brain health, please visit .