You’d be excused for thinking the treatment of diabetes and dementia would operate at two different ends of the health spectrum.
But new research suggests this might not be the case in the future.
A new study from the Garvan Institute has found people with type 2 diabetes are up to five times more likely to develop dementia – but with the use of common diabetes drug Metformin this risk rate returns to normal.
The Garvan Institute and UNSW Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) researcher Professor Katherine Samaras examined this issue after studying more than 1,000 Australians aged 70-90 for six years.
In the study, 123 participants had diabetes and just over half of these (67) received Metformin to lower blood sugar levels.
There was a significantly slower rate of cognitive decline and lower dementia rates in the group of patients that used the drug, compared to those who didn’t.
It is still unclear why Metformin has this effect, but Professor Samaras suggests there could be something in the way it affects blood vessels and inflammation.
Researchers now want to trial the drug on patients without diabetes, though Professor Samaras has cautioned against labelling Metformin as a “wonder drug”.
Still, encouraging signs!
