Diabetes and dementia

People with diabetes lack the ability to control the amount of sugar in their bloodstream. High levels of sugar can be damaging to people's health and there is known to be a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. But very low levels of blood sugar can be just as damaging and researchers from the Kaiser Permanente health organisation in the U.S. looked into the links between being admitted to hospital suffering from low levels of blood sugar and the risk of developing dementia. They studied records covering over 20 years from more than 16,600 people with type 2 diabetes. They found that people who had been to hospital once with low blood sugar had a 2.6% greater risk of dementia, those who had been twice had a 115% greater risk and those who had been three times had a 160% greater risk.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE53D3MR20090414?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true