A study recently took place at Kyushu University in Japan that looked at any links between Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. The researchers studied insulin resistance, type two diabetes, and neurofibrillary tangles or plaque deposits which are commonly found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s.

There are 135 people studied, with a median age of 67. The scientists found that there were 16 percent of the patients that had a positive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and 65 percent had plaque deposits in their brain. Of the patients that had plaque deposits, 72 percent had a resistance to insulin.

When the body of a person stops reducing insulin, the patient is then unable to continue on with normal bodily functions, and diabetes occurs. Patients are usually required to take daily insulin shots in order to help them maintain a healthy body.

A study recently found that insulin can work as a defensive shield in the brain, repelling toxic proteins that may attack certain areas. William L. Klein, of the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern, was the senior study author and he said, “Therapeutics designed to increase insulin sensitivity in the brain could provide new avenues for treating Alzheimer’s disease.”