From the brain to the pancreas: Knowing the different types of diabetes

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00:00What if diabetes isn't just about blood sugar?

00:03What if this master hormone, insulin, is also fueling your brain,

00:07powering memory, and driving thinking?

00:11Researchers are discovering types 3 and 5,

00:14showing diabetes is not one disease, but a family of conditions

00:18impacting more people in more ways than we ever realized.

00:22I think people being aware that diabetes can affect the brain

00:29is a good public health message.

00:33Without getting into names, but diabetes and like things

00:37can impact the brain and make it not work.

00:41If you start with that, they can hold on to it.

00:44Insulin works like a key, unlocking cells to let sugar flow in

00:48and keep your body and brain running.

00:51Without it, cells starve, blood sugar spikes, and health problems snowball.

00:55Most people know type 1 and type 2.

00:58Type 1 is autoimmune.

01:00The body destroys insulin-producing cells.

01:02Type 2 is about insulin resistance.

01:05Your body can't use it properly, and the pancreas eventually can't keep up.

01:09Nearly 12% of Americans lived with diabetes in 2021.

01:13With numbers this high, researchers are looking beyond blood sugar

01:17to how insulin affects the brain.

01:19Suzanne De La Monte, professor at Brown University,

01:22studies brain insulin resistance and cognitive decline.

01:26She says decades of focus on types 1 and 2 slowed progress,

01:30but new studies, including on GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovi,

01:35are expanding our understanding.

01:37De La Monte coined type 3 diabetes after noticing that Alzheimer's

01:42looks like diabetes of the brain.

01:44What does insulin do in the brain?

01:46It increases memory, increases learning.

01:49It's involved in behavior.

01:51It's essential.

01:53And so it's a master hormone for regulating so many things in the brain.

01:58Like type 2, the brain can develop insulin resistance.

02:02Cells struggle to get energy leading to memory loss, plaque buildup, and nerve damage.

02:07Her studies show insulin-sensitizing drugs like those for type 2

02:11can reduce brain damage in experiments.

02:14But not everyone agrees.

02:16The Alzheimer's Association cautions that Alzheimer's is not diabetes,

02:20and labeling it type 3 can be misleading.

02:23Research is ongoing, including studies testing diabetes drugs for brain health,

02:27but the conditions remain distinct.

02:30Other forms of diabetes can be situational.

02:32Type 5, or malnutrition-related diabetes, hits when chronic undernutrition,

02:38especially in childhood, leaves the pancreas underdeveloped

02:41and less able to produce insulin.

02:44This form is most common in low- and middle-income countries,

02:47where malnutrition is widespread and advanced care is limited.

02:52Many people don't know they have diabetes until it gets severe.

02:55But De La Monte says it all starts with your lifestyle.

02:59Understanding that we need to focus on what we eat, how we eat, exercise,

03:06as just things we can control.

03:08You don't need any doctor to tell you that.

03:11You hear it and nobody wants to do it, but you have to be active about it.

03:14Read the full story right now on the Straight Arrow News app or on SAN.com.

03:18For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey.

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