I have recently read that inhaled insulin may be of help for
patients with alzheimer’s dementia. Is this true?
Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) is a progressive disorder with no
identifiable cause or effective treatment. All the drug treatments available today
appear to have major side effects and the cognitive improvement is only
marginal.
Now there is a study showing that intranasal insulin spray
may be of benefit in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. The researchers
indicate that insulin is critical for normal brain function and alteration in
its metabolism may be a contributing factor to the development of alzheimer's disease.
The researchers mention that because some patients with AD have lower levels of
insulin in the brain, perhaps delivering supplemental can help improve cognition.
So what does this mean for the consumer?
While these results may sound impressive they are fraught
with errors. To date, there is no imaging technique that can reliably make a
diagnosis of alzheimer's dementia. Moreover, there is no reliable way to measure
insulin levels in the brain, asides from autopsy specimens. To claim that AD
patients have low levels of insulin is false, because there is no scientific
evidence for this statement.
In my opinion the study is not bona fide at all. First off
all, if insulin was a cure for Alzheimer's dementia, then most type 1 diabetic
patients would not never develop this disorder since they are treated with insulin
for life. Clearly this is not the case. Secondly if insulin deficiency was a cause
of alzheimer's dementia, only type 1 and type 2 diabetics would develop alzheimer's
dementia- again this is not the case. Thirdly, administering insulin to a non
diabetic patient is very risky. Hypoglycemia is a serious complication of
insulin therapy and can be fatal if not recognized. If a doctor prescribes a
non-diabetic patient insulin that leads to coma, you have a great malpractice
case against the doctor.
To date, there is no evidence to show that diabetics (who
lack insulin) have a higher prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia than non-diabetics.
Finally, any healthcare professional who prescribes insulin
to non-diabetics better have good medical malpractice insurance.
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