Take Steps To Avoid Memory Loss From Pre-Diabetes Damage

Older people with larger waistlines, high blood pressure and other risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome may be at a higher risk for memory loss, according to a recent study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Metabolic syndrome is defined as having three or more of the following risk factors: high blood pressure, excess belly fat, higher than normal triglycerides (a type of fat found in the blood), high blood sugar and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol or “good” cholesterol. Metabolic syndrome has also been tied to increased risk of heart attack.

From the study of 7,087 people age 65 and older from three French cities, researchers found that people who had metabolic syndrome were 20 percent more likely to have cognitive decline on the memory test than those who did not have metabolic syndrome. Those with metabolic syndrome also were 13 percent more likely to have cognitive decline on the visual working memory test compared to those who did not have the syndrome. Specifically, higher triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol were linked to poorer memory scores; diabetes, but not higher fasting blood sugar, was linked to poorer visual working memory and word fluency scores.

"Our study sheds new light on how metabolic syndrome and the individual factors of the disease may affect cognitive health," said study author Christelle Raffaitin, MD, of the French National Institute of Health Research in Bordeaux, France. “Our results suggest that management of metabolic syndrome may help slow down age-related memory loss, or delay the onset of dementia.”

These results are more evidence of the need to prevent or manage diabetes and the health conditions that can lead to it. No matter what your age, losing weight if overweight and working with your doctor to bring down cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels will improve not only your physical health, but your mental health as well.