Having Diabetes Interferes with Your Brains Much Needed Cholesterol

Did you know that your brain has more cholesterol than any other organ in your body? In fact, the brain needs that cholesterol in order function, and because diabetes can interfere with the cholesterol in your brain, it could also increase your risk for Alzheimers Disease.

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, studied the brains of mice and found that brain cholesterol synthesis dropped in the mice with diabetes. Brain cholesterol synthesis is the only source of cholesterol for the brain.

According to Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, the head researcher of the study, Since cholesterol is required by neurons to form synapses (connections) with other cells, this decrease in cholesterol could affect how nerves function for appetite regulation, behavior, memory and even pain and motor activity.

Dr. Kahn, who is also a Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, added, "Thus, this has broad implications for people with diabetes."

Additionally, strong evidence shows that people with diabetes may show alterations to brain function or varying ways of responding to stress, he points out.

If Alzheimer's Disease wasn't the only worry, the researchers add that having diabetes can also contribute to the development of other neurological diseases: