Is there a link between sugar and Alzheimer’s disease?

Your brain needs sugar to function properly, but studies have associated high blood glucose levels with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

When you eat, your body turns parts of the food into a type of sugar called glucose. Glucose plays an important role in our metabolism and the glucose level in our blood and tissues must be properly controlled. There are two hormones that control the blood glucose level. The hormone glucagon increases the blood glucose level, and the hormone insulin reduces the blood glucose level. Insulin enables cells to take up glucose from the blood. After taking on glucose, the cell can use it to release energy, to create new cells by cell duplication (so called cell division) or to convert glucose into fat.

The risks of eating too much sugar

If you eat too much sugar or the wrong kind of sugar, high blood glucose levels are promoted. This causes insulin to be secreted by the pancreas and the insulin leads to an uptake of glucose into the cells. Over time if blood glucose levels are too high, high amounts of insulin must be secreted. Cells then become repeatedly resistant to insulin and can no longer take glucose from the blood. Since our brain needs huge amounts of glucose, insulin resistance prevents the uptake of blood glucose into the brain and as a consequence the brain doesn’t get enough glucose to function. Since glucose is an important component for survival of brain cells, insulin resistance causes a dangerous glucose deprivation in brain cells leading to cell death. Studies have shown that high blood glucose levels and insulin resistance are major risk factors for developing memory loss and Alzheimer’s.

Insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s

In elderly people, this can mean that the brain doesn’t get enough glucose, even if high levels of glucose are present in the blood. Insulin resistance prevents the uptake of blood glucose into the brain leading to poor brain function. If the brain’s memory centre, the hippocampus, doesn’t get enough sugar, this can cause forgetfulness. New memories are harder to store and older memories drift away. If the hippocampus does not get enough glucose, the death of brain cells causes the loss of long-term memories. This is because the connection between the hippocampus brain region and other brain regions storing long term memories is being destroyed.
Since high blood glucose levels and insulin resistance play such an important factor for developing Alzheimer’s, leading scientists refer to Alzheimer’s as ‘Type 3 diabetes’.

Diet, blood glucose and brain function

Studies show that high blood glucose levels could have a negative impact on cognition, and that avoiding high blood glucose levels in elderly people is associated with better cognitive function.

This is where Dr Coy’s reasoning starts. If the problem is not a shortage of glucose in the blood but the brain’s inability to take it up, then eating less sugar does not solve it and eating more does not either. The obstacle is insulin. His conclusion is that what the hippocampus needs is a fuel that does not depend on insulin to get in, and this is what led him to galactose. Recent studies show that high blood glucose levels and high HbA1c levels are associated with an increased risk of memory loss and dementia.

  • Galactose, one of Dr Coy’s sugars, is absorbed by the brain without the need of insulin to generate energy. It causes low insulin release. The hippocampus requires no insulin to absorb galactose, and therefore galactose is being taken up by the hippocampus even when insulin resistance exists. Galactose is a sugar which can be used by the hippocampus in an insulin independent way, as an energy fuel. In Dr Coy’s view this matters because the hippocampus is not short of fuel in the blood, it is short of a way to admit it, and galactose bypasses the door that insulin resistance has closed. Whether supplying the hippocampus by this route affects the degeneration that follows impaired glucose uptake is an open question, and an active area of research.

Dr Coy’s research also examines galactose and the toxic substances produced from amino acids. If our body and especially the brain need a lot of energy, our sugar deposits are being used as energy fuel. Glucose is stored as chains of lots of glucose, called glycogen deposits. These are being used when we need additional glucose. Hours of working or exercising depletes our sugar stores. In this case, our metabolism starts to use amino acids to create glucose. Whereas some amino acids can be used for creating glucose (glucogenic amino acids), others cannot (ketogenic amino acids). The glucogenic amino acids are used to produce glucose when the glucose deposits are empty. The use of amino acids for glucose production releases the toxic amino group NH3 (ammonia). Ammonia is a toxic substance which damages the brain. Galactose is able to neutralise the toxic ammonia, and as a result a new amino acid is created.

 

Dr Coy also works with galactose in combination with the glucose-containing sugars isomaltulose and trehalose. His reasoning is that the brain still requires glucose for functions galactose cannot serve, so the aim is not to remove glucose but to deliver it slowly enough that it does not provoke the insulin response which caused the resistance in the first place. In his 2009 book he set out carbohydrate thresholds for this approach, and he recommends these are discussed with a doctor.

Other areas of nutrition research that have been studied in relation to memory and brain metabolism include:

  • Medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oils and coconut oils, which are involved in the formation of ketone bodies, an alternative fuel for the brain. MCT oils are commonly used alongside Dr Coy’s sugars as part of a ketogenic way of eating.
  • B vitamins, in particular vitamin B1 in the form of benfotiamine, which have been studied in relation to nerve cell development and brain metabolism.
  • Lithium is a trace element found naturally in some mineral waters and in food supplements. Population studies have examined whether lithium levels in drinking water are associated with rates of dementia and with mood. The findings are mixed and further research is needed.
  • Polyphenols which have been studied in relation to the formation of new nerve cells in the brain (neurogenesis). They are found in berries, green tea, grape seeds and other plants.
  • Combining Dr Coy’s sugars such as galactose, trehalose and isomaltulose, which is the approach his research takes to supplying the brain with energy. Tagatose, which is reduced in calories, and the mixture of erythritol and stevia, which is calorie free, can be used to reduce the overall amount of calories without reducing sweetness.

Monitoring blood glucose levels, and understanding how different sugars and carbohydrates affect them, allows people to make better informed choices about what they eat.

Our recipes page is packed with ideas for incorporating Dr Coy’s sugars into your diet.

A blood test for Alzheimer’s?

In addition to testing for blood sugar levels and high HbA1c levels, a simple blood test is in development to look for Alzheimer proteins in the blood. The test will analyse phagocytes in the blood, which remove cell waste. Too many of these proteins found in the phagocytes will give a clear indication of damage to brain cells.

Find Our More…

Further reading

Get in touch with Intelligent Sugar

Got a question about Dr Coy’s sugars? Contact info@intelligentsugar.info

If you have a question about a specific health condition, please speak to your doctor.

View More
Secret Link