- About 15% of people around the world have a neurodegenerative disease.
- A known risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative condition is obesity.
- Researchers from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center show evidence suggesting a high-sugar diet causes insulin resistance in the brain, reducing the brain’s ability to remove neuronal debris, thus increasing neurodegeneration risk.
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), affect millions of people worldwide.
Although scientists are still unclear as to what the main cause is for many
Now researchers from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center are shedding some light on the mechanisms behind obesity and neurodegenerative disease risk. Using a common fruit fly model, the researchers believe a high-sugar diet causes insulin resistance in the brain, reducing the brain’s ability to remove neuronal debris, thus increasing neurodegeneration risk.
This study was recently published in the journal PLOS Biology.
According to Dr. Akhila Rajan, an associate professor in the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and senior author of this study, while human clinical studies have found that obesity is an independent risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders, the direct causative mechanisms that connect diet-induced obesity to impaired brain function is largely unknown.
“Consuming processed food doesn’t just affect weight gain, it affects cognitive function,” Dr. Rajan explained to Medical News Today.
“Using the fruit fly model, my lab previously established that prolonged exposure to increased sugars can contribute to insulin resistance in peripheral tissues. Given that we had a…
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