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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : April 30, 2014 7:04 PM IST
What has diabetes to do with your brain? Well, it may shrink your brain by two years every decade, an alarming research has indicated. It is the first such study linking diabetes to a change in the size of the brain. 'Our research found that patients having more severe diabetes had less brain tissue, suggesting brain atrophy,' said R. Nick Bryan, a professor of radiology at University of Pennsylvania's Perleman School of Medicine.
They did not seem to have more vascular disease due to the direct effect of diabetes, Bryan added. To find evidence, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to find the link between type 2 diabetes and brain structure in 614 patients. The findings showed that longer duration of diabetes was associated with brain volume loss, particularly in the gray matter. (Read: Eating walnuts may keep heart disease and diabetes at bay!)
For every 10 years a patient has diabetes, their brain looks approximately two years older than that of a non-diabetic person in terms of grey matter volume. However, they found no association of diabetes characteristics with small vessel ischemic disease in the brain, a Daily Mail report said. This opens up a new pathway to treat patients with diabetes, the study concluded. (Read: Can coffee help you beat diabetes?)
Tips to prevent diabetes
Diabetes has already become a huge epidemic of our times, and the number of diabetics will keep on increasing over the next 20 years or probably beyond that. A lot is being said and written about controlling diabetes and living a healthy life with diabetes, but the prevention aspect of diabetes also needs to be highlighted. The most disturbing part of this disease is that you cannot tell if you're destined to be a diabetic. Therefore, it's better to take the right measures beforehand and keep diabetes at bay.
1. Get your sugar levels checked: A lot of people have prediabetes (fasting sugar: 100-125 mg/dl) and are totally clueless about it. A blood sugar test will help you to understand whether you're prediabetic and what are your chances of developing diabetes. If you get diagnosed with prediabetes, then you can take the right steps and prevent it from transforming into irreversible diabetes. Here are things you should know about prediabetes.
2. Change your lifestyle: Sometimes, small changes can make a huge difference. Lifestyle intervention for preventing diabetes is the best example for this. Several studies on diabetes prevention programme have proved that diabetes can be prevented effectively by giving up sedentary lifestyle and adopting healthier changes. Read more about sedentary lifestyle and diabetes risk.
3. Eat healthy: Eat a healthy diet that has low calories, especially low saturated fats. Trials have shown that fat intake should not exceed 30 percent of the total calorie intake, whereas saturated fats should be restricted to just 10 percent. Include more of vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grains, dairy products and sources of omega 3 fats. Also, increase your fibre intake. Here's how fibre can help you to prevent diabetes.
4. Eat smart by limiting your portion size: How much you eat and when you eat is as important as what you eat. Reducing portion size and dividing meals throughout the day reduces the risk of obesity and diabetes.Eatingproportionately will definitely be more helpful than starving yourself and overeating later due to excessive hunger. Irregularity in pattern of eating also causes drastic changes in blood sugar levels. (Read: 10 tips to prevent diabetes)
With inputs from IANS
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