Type 3 Diabetes

What's in a Name?

Most people have never heard of type 3 diabetes, while others aren't even sure it exists. So, where did the term come from and is it even real?

The term is self promoted (created) by a group of scientist working at Brown University Medical School. In 2005, they announced that insulin is also produced in the brain, not just in the pancreas. This discovery, on its own, is quite remarkable. However, they also discovered more.

Scientists have long believed that diabetes has some influence on whether a person develops Alzheimer's disease. In fact, diabetics are up to 65% more likely to get Alzheimer's.

Up until 2005, the link was primarily centered on a similar protein found in both the brain and pancreas of diabetics and Alzheimer's patients.

The Brown University team however, believes that the link is due to the lack of insulin produced not only in the pancreas but also the brain. They believe that without the brain insulin, cells in the memory part of the brain (hippocampus) die.

The significance of this finding is that diabetics cannot reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer's just by controlling their type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Instead, a more comprehensive approach needs to be formulated that addresses the lack of brain insulin.

Critics of the study stop short of calling the findings "type 3 diabetes". Instead, they suggest that much further study is needed to determine, what, if any significance the findings have on the link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.