March 26, 2023 - What is type 3 diabetes?
Diabetes mellitus (also called DM or diabetes for short) refers to a health condition where your body has difficulty converting sugar to energy.

Some research studies have proposed that Alzheimer’s disease should also be classified as a type of diabetes, called type 3 diabetes. Type 3 diabetes is known as the "other" category. The Type 3 category is divided into 8 sub-categories that include countless disorders such as specific known genetic mutations, rare genetic syndromes, multiple different pancreatic diseases, other hormonal disorders, toxin and drug effects, infections, and other autoimmune diseases.

This “type 3 diabetes” is a term that has been put forward to describe the hypothesis that Alzheimer’s disease, which is a major cause of dementia, is triggered by a type of insulin resistance and insulin-like growth factor dysfunction that occurs specifically in the brain.

This condition also has been used by some to describe people who have type 2 diabetes and are also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Now, having said all of the above, it should be noted that the classification of type 3 diabetes is highly controversial, and it is not yet widely accepted by the medical community as a clinical diagnosis. If you have more questions, please make an appointment with us at Palmetto Endocrinology to discuss your concerns.

The link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s

According to the Mayo Clinic, there’s already an established link between Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes. It has been suggested that Alzheimer’s may be triggered by insulin resistance in your brain. Some people say that Alzheimer’s is simply “diabetes in your brain.” This claim has some science behind it, but it’s a bit of an oversimplification.

Over time, untreated diabetes can cause damage to your blood vessels, including vessels in your brain. Many people who have type 2 diabetes do not know that they have the condition, which may delay diagnosis and appropriate treatment measures.

Therefore, those with type 2 diabetes, especially undiagnosed diabetes, have a higher risk of this kind of damage. Diabetes may also cause chemical imbalances in your brain, which may trigger Alzheimer’s.

Also, high blood sugar levels lead to inflammation, which may damage brain cells. For these reasons, diabetes is considered a risk factor for a condition called vascular dementia. Vascular dementia is a stand-alone diagnosis with symptoms of its own, or it can be a warning sign of what will develop into an overlap with Alzheimer’s disease.

The science of this process is uncertain. For now, what has been established is that there are cases of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia that do not have any demonstrated link to insulin resistance. source: