Indulging your sweet tooth could raise risk of Alzheimer’s

PEOPLE who eat diets high in sugar could be at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a study has suggested.

For the first time, scientists have established a “tipping point” link between blood sugar glucose and the degenerative neurological condition.

University of Bath researchers found excess glucose damages a vital enzyme involved with inflammation response to the early stage of the disease.

Abnormally high blood sugar levels, or hyperglycaemia, are a well-known characteristic of diabetes and obesity, and it is already understood that diabetes patients have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, where abnormal proteins aggregate to form plaque and tangles in the brain.

Now, however, scientists have unravelled the specific molecular link between glucose and Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting people who consume a lot of sugar but are not diabetic are at in- creased risk. They found that, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, an enzyme called MIF (macrophage migration inhibitory factor) is damaged by a process called glycation.

The researchers believe that inhibi- tion and reduction of MIF activity caused by glycation could be the “tipping point” in disease progression.

Prof Jean van den Elsen, from the university’s department of biology and biochemistry, said: “We’ve shown that this enzyme is already modified by glucose in the brains of individuals at the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

“We are now investigating if we can detect similar changes in blood. Normally MIF would be part of the immune response to abnormal proteins in the brain, and we think that because sugar damage reduces some MIF functions and completely inhibits others, this could be a tipping point that allows Alzheimer’s to develop.”

Dr Rob Williams, also from the department of biology and biochemistry, said the discovery could eventually help to better identify those at risk of Alzheimer’s and lead to new treatments or ways to prevent the disease.

Globally, there are about 50 million people with Alzheimer’s disease and the figure is predicted to rise to more than 125 million by 2050.

Dr Omar Kassaar, from the University of Bath, said the find showed “yet another reason that we should be controlling our sugar intake in our diets”.

In the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists from the university worked with colleagues at King’s College London.