Diabetes in midlife makes mind age five years faster later in life

A new study has revealed that people diagnosed with diabetes in midlife are more likely to experience significant memory and cognitive problems during the next 20 years than those with healthy blood sugar levels.

The study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that diabetes appears to age the mind roughly five years faster beyond the normal effects of aging. For example, on average, a 60-year-old with diabetes experiences cognitive decline on par with a healthy 65-year-old aging normally. Decline in memory, word recall and executive function is strongly associated with progression to dementia, a loss of mental capacity severe enough to interfere with a person's daily functioning.

Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that the lesson is that to have a healthy brain when you're 70, you need to eat right and exercise when you're 50 and there is a substantial cognitive decline associated with diabetes, pre-diabetes and poor glucose control in people with diabetes. And they know how to prevent or delay the diabetes associated with this decline.

Selvin said that the results underscore the importance of using a combination of weight control, exercise and a healthy diet to prevent diabetes and even losing just five to 10 percent of body weight, she says, can keep someone from developing diabetes.

The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.