From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with
DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has
been rapidly expanding since t stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th
Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2
Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have
suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known
reason, I added a section to this blog…
Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is
going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll
translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today:
Oddly, a study out of the Technical University of Munich, this month on
the ScienceDaily website connects both Diabetes and Alzheimer’s…
In Alzheimer's disease, the degeneration of brain cells is linked to
formation of toxic protein aggregates and deposits known as amyloid plaques.
Similar processes play an important role also in type 2 diabetes. A research
team has now developed 'mini-proteins', so-called peptides, which are able to
bind the proteins that form amyloids and prevent their aggregation into
cytotoxic amyloids.”
What’s that mean in plain English?
I’ve written about plaques and tangles in the past in Alzheimer’s posts
(for example, here: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2021/11/alzheimers-research-right-now-16-cause.html).
Research is ongoing to discover how this incredibly complex organ we call “the
brain” is affected by Alzheimer’s. Plaques are weird clusters of broken protein
pieces. They get stuck between nerve cells which slows down how quickly – or even
WHETHER – nerve cells can communicate with each other. If they can’t
communicate, the person loses memories, the ability to know what to do in
certain situations, sometimes even the ability to walk, drink, or even feed
themselves. Disconnected from each other, the nerve cells eventually start to
die. Dead and dying nerve cells contain tangles, which are made up of twisted
strands of another protein. Quite simply, the brain slowly becomes a train
wreck of broken pieces of proteins that cut off and clog communication between
the cells.
Now it appears that the formations of these same proteins mess with our
bodies and interfere with the use and transport of insulin – the molecule that
takes the simple sugar that comes from your body breaking down stuff like hamburgers,
potato chips, and mini-donuts into the tiny, tiny sugar called glucose – the simplest
sugar that you can have and still call it “sugar”. It also happens to be the
ONLY sugar your body can use to run itself.
So – HOW do these plaques and tangles that gum up the brain’s ability
to think and remember wreck our body’s ability to use insulin properly? Insulin
is supposed to allow the cells of the body to take glucose from the blood.
SO?
“Insulin controls the breakdown of carbs, fat, and protein by boosting
glucose from the blood into liver, fat. and muscle cells. The glucose is changed
into either glycogen or fat. The liver actually does both. Both glycogen and
fat store energy this way. The liver won’t make glucose or release it into the
blood when there’re too much insulin in the blood. The same insulin also messes
with making protein ALL OVER THE BODY. Low levels of insulin have the opposite
effect – it makes the body STOP making glucose. And glucose is what makes your
body work – muscles,
blood cells, antibody cells, brain cells, nerve cells…so insulin HAS to be
balanced or else it screws up the functions of the body.”
Now you have the background to read WHAT this means for Type 2 Diabetics
AND Alzheimer’s patients. Before I go any farther, let me point out that these
plaques and tangles, once they begin to clump and form “blobs”, kill individual
cells – it’s called being cyto (cell) toxic (deadly), or cytotoxic.
“The team invented artificial peptides (which are like, “building blocks”
of everything your body is made of.) These artificial peptides STOP the
clumping of plaques and tangles. Dr. Kapurniotu notes, ‘The designed
peptides look very similar to harmful clumps and tangles, but don’t have the cytotoxic
effects! In fact, white blood cells go after them even MORE that the ones what
make up the plaques and tangles!’”
There’s no “magic bullet” right now to cure diabetes (or Alzheimer’s),
but it seems that based on this research, that there MIGHT be something that
can manage both diseases…and that will help an incredible number of people…
A Concise History of
Diabetes: https://www.everydayhealth.com/diabetes/understanding/diabetes-mellitus-through-time.aspx
Resources: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221109085759.htm
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg
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