Insulin Nasal Spray linked to treating Alzheimer’s
Posted on 15. Jul, 2010 by Justin Chaucer in Health
Study showed that delivering insulin twice a day shows promising results in improving memory of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The patients with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment were given insulin nasal spray and placebo spray where those who were treated with high dose insulin spray showed improvement in daily functioning and those who were treated with placebo spray had no difference in cognition. The study involved 100 patients and lasted for four months; however, the researchers are preparing a larger and longer intranasal insulin study in patients with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment which usually progresses to Alzheimer’s.
Study researcher Suzanne Craft says, “Four months is rather short for a treatment study. But if longer studies show this to be a safe and beneficial treatment, I could see it being something that patients might want to try.” Craft had been studying the influence of insulin on memory for more than ten years. She said that the brain cells use sugar for energy; however, the brain is unable to store nor make insulin thus the effectiveness of getting energy from the rest of the body to the brain is important for it to function. Craft adds, “We believe that restoring normal insulin function in the brain may provide therapeutic benefits to adults with Alzheimer’s.”
Alzheimer’s Association Chief Medical and Scientific Officer William Thies says, “I don’t know that intranasal insulin will ever become a practical treatment for large numbers of people. The value of this research may be in identifying a new pathway for potential treatments.” Scott Turner, director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center says, “We’re becoming increasingly aware that diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and hyperglycemia are all risk factors for Alzheimer’s and memory loss with aging which is the rationale for this study as a possible therapy.” The current Alzheimer’s medications only treat the symptoms and have not shown any improvement in the memory of patients with Alzheimer’s, hopefully the study would open the way in finding a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
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