Acording to a Finnish study, diabetes may increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
Researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes were more than 80% more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease than people without diabetes. This is the first study to suggest that diabetes may be a risk factor of Parkinson's disease, a progressive disease that causes muscle rigidity and tremors.
The study followed a group of more than 50,000 men and women over a period of 18 years. During that time, 324 men and 309 women developed Parkinson's disease. People who had type 2 diabetes at the start of the study were far more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Overall, after adjusting for other possible risk factors for Parkinson's disease, men and women with type 2 diabetes were 83% more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those without it.
Although the exact nature of the relationship between diabetes and Parkinson's disease is unclear, researchers say several lifestyle factors may be associated with both disorders. Among these factors are: obesity, cigarette smoking, and lack of physical activity.
Perhaps further research between the association of diabetes and Parkinson's disease could help researchers better understand an avenue to a cure. . Pioglitazone is a drug used to treat diabetes. It may also help fight the onset of Parkinson's. Thanks to funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation we may be closer to clinical trials and an answer.
1. A. In respect of the comment: “…Researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes were more than 80% more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease than people without diabetes … Pioglitazone is a drug used to treat diabetes…”
How true is the statement above (?) or is the following statement more accurate: ‘Researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes [AND UNDERGOING drug/insulin TREATMENT] were more than 80% more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease than people without diabetes’?
Please provide details of exactly where the abovementioned research has been published / ‘Peer reviewed’ so that the abovementioned important distinction can be checked upon [because the reported side-effects for Pioglitazone, a drug used to ‘treat’ type 2 diabetes, are: hypoglycemia, EDEMA, upper respiratory tract infection, anaemia, headache, sinusitis, myalgia, tooth disorder, diabetes mellitus aggravated, pharyngitis, reduction of haemoglobin, hematocrit and bilirubin]…
As compared with the relative joy of UNTREATED type 2 diabetes…
Transient supernormal glycaemia ‘TSG’ occurs in every Human Being as a healthy and natural response to stress [‘adaptive medicine’] and may well increase HgA1c … so what? … when glucose levels surge up for a transient period [and then down again] an above average HgA1c can just as easily be viewed as a marker for a very healthy ‘stress adapted’ Human Being who has the benefit of being ‘insulin-resistant’ ie a criteria for being labelled a ‘type 2 Diabetic’; and
B. What is the most definitive study which substantiates the benefit of reducing HgA1c in drug/insulin treated acute&chronic 'insulin-resistant diabetes' [Type 2] … as compared with treatment-free [drug/insulin] acute&chronic 'insulin-resistant diabetes' [ie in a ZERO drug (repeat zero) treatment control Group]? {ps please note the word written there says: “zero”} ie completely ignoring HgA1c value variability…
... Am seeking a ‘Peer reviewed’ study that clearly disassociates drug/insulin treatment from any changes in Patient behaviour [eg diet/exercise] and/or categorically proves that drug/insulin treated acute&chronic 'insulin-resistant diabetes' is healthier than doing absolutely nothing [‘zero’] ie just accepting the higher HgA1c value and [possibly beneficial] blood glucose value [and possibly beneficial “insulin resistance”]; and
C. What is the most definitive study which provides incontrovertible evidence that the apparent insulin receptor mediated down-regulation [in response to: transient supernormal glycaemia ‘TSG’] is anything substantially other than a stress-adaptive mechanism of 'local' [on a cell-by-cell basis] intracellular cyto-protection from influx of excessive [blood] circulating glucose [ie homeostasis] eg cardio muscle protective?
... My understanding is that insulin receptor mediated down-regulation ‘IRD’ [aka “insulin resistance”] is primarily an adaptive [protective/regulatory/beneficial] reply to transient [and chronically repeated] oral indulgence/stress …
eg "...healthy young students were fed a very high fat diet containing egg yolks, heavy cream, and butter, and within 2 days all of the students had blood sugar levels high enough to be labelled diabetic..."
Sweeney J. Dietary factors that influence the dextrose tolerance test: A preliminary study. Archives of Internal Medicine 1927; 40:818.
“…After World War I, when insulin was first discovered, the medical profession thought diabetes would be totally curable as a medical problem. Diabetes was believed to be due to insulin deficiency, and everyone thought that since insulin would now be given to patients there would be no more problems. It seemed this way for a few years, but terrible things started happening to patients with diabetes who were given insulin to control their blood sugar levels. They developed eye disease, kidney disease, and, most important, accelerating atherosclerosis leading to blood vessel disease and early heart attacks. Their problems were worse than ever. Decades later, when the insulin assay became available and doctors were able to measure insulin levels in their patients’ bloodstreams, they found most interesting results: the insulin levels of type 1 (childhood-onset) diabetics were indeed low, but the levels in type 2 (adult-onset) diabetics were not only not low, but also were higher than those of people without diabetes. It became clear that type 2 diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance, not insulin deficiency. Type 2 diabetics produce plenty of insulin … I can only view today’s treatment of diabetic patients as malpractice…”
(1995) Dr Joel Fuhrman [a board-certified Family Physician practising in Belle Mead, New Jersey who specialises in preventing and reversing chronic conditions of high blood sugar; Dr Fuhrman is an active staff member of Hunterdon Medical Centre and provides nutritionally oriented medical care to Patients as well as nutritional education to other Physicians; Author of “Fasting and Eating for Health” ‘A Medical Doctor’s Program for Conquering Disease’].
Warm thanks, Nicholas Dynes Gracey, BSc(Hons) Medical Biochemistry, Birmingham University, UK c/o www.TheDiabetesBlog.com @ 20:54hrs FRI.30.MAR.2007.
Posted at 4:27PM on Mar 30th 2007 by Nicholas Dynes Gracey