Rising Blood Sugar May Harm the Aging Brain

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The findings were confirmed in animal tests.

"The paper identifies an etiology [cause] for normal age-related memory decline," Small explained. "Elevations in blood glucose levels differentially target the dentate gyrus part of the hippocampus implicated in aging and, as we age, we develop a slight but gradually worsening difficulty in handling blood sugar levels."

That difficulty coincides with the beginning of loss of cognitive function, Small added.

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"In my opinion, that's an interesting hypothesis and needs to be studied -- that exercise helps improve cognitive functioning through that mechanism, but I think there are other mechanisms as well," said Bryan Freilich, a clinical neuropsychologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

Mark Mapstone, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, said: "If these findings are replicated and confirmed, I think the implications could be very important, specifically, that maintaining optimal blood sugar levels throughout aging is a feasible way to [slow or prevent] cognitive decline. It goes beyond diabetes to look at people who don't have diabetes. The implication is even if you don't have a clinical condition of diabetes, that you can still do something about cognitive aging."

More information

For more on healthy aging, visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

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