There is recent talk of a new type of diabetes. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body chronically prevents the pancreas from producing insulin. Type II diabetes is when the pancreas create insulin but the body doesn’t use it properly. Type III diabetes is believed to be a neurological issue, in which the brain either tells the pancreas to not produce insulin or tells the body not to use it properly. In all cases, the excess of sugar consumption is often the trigger which starts the snowball of symptoms.

What’s interesting about Type III diabetes is that the brain’s functions concerning the production or use of insulin is very similar to the brain functions of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Although Type III diabetes is still a ‘working name’ and not entirely understood, it seems the research is pointing in a direction which may soon classify certain types of dementia as a symptom of Type III diabetes.

It’s long been known that excessive sugar consumption leads to a host of health problems, not the least of which is obesity, which taxes the body so heavily that the brain is inevitably altered for the worse. Remember that the brain is the command center for all the organs that keep the body functioning, and any difficulty experienced by an organ ultimately affects the brain because it needs to work harder to manage the troubled organ.

A lesser-known issue is that “sugar” may not necessarily be table sugar. Sugar is a hidden ingredient in all sorts of beverages and processed foods, used often as a preservative or taste enhancer. Even the name is sometimes hidden because many ingredient listings do not outright say “sugar”. Carefully read labels and try to avoid products that have too many words ending in “-ose”.