Regulating Blood Sugar For the Brain

Understanding the Impacts of Insulin Resistance on the Brain and What Can Be Done About it

In the recent newsletter, I discussed intermittent fasting as one way to regulate blood sugar.  In this newsletter, I’ll address:

• Why blood sugar regulation is especially important for brain health.

• What happens when our brain is exposed to spiking and/or chronically elevated blood sugar?

• What insulin resistance means for the body and brain.

• Strategies used to help regulate blood sugar.

Definitions

Glucose is a type of sugar that we get from food. Our bodies use it for energy. In our blood, it’s called blood sugar.  Just as the cells in our body use sugar, so do our brain cells.

Insulin is a peptide hormone made in the pancreas that helps blood sugar enter cells (including our brain cells) so that they can use it for energy. Insulin also tells the liver to store blood sugar for later use. When blood sugar enters cells, blood sugar levels decrease, normally resulting in a decrease in insulin.  

Hyperinsulinemia describes chronically high blood sugar, which results in persistently high insulin levels. This can lead to insulin resistance.

Insulin Resistance occurs when cells do not respond to insulin as they should. This can happen when blood sugar levels are high over time. The body stores this excess sugar as fat, which can result in weight gain. Insulin resistance raises one’s risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, but also Alzheimer's, and other brain conditions.

Insulin Resistance in the Brain

The receptors transporting insulin across the blood-brain barrier can become resistant to high insulin levels. This results in low insulin in the brain and, thus, brain cells being exposed to high blood sugar without a means to use it as energy.  Without an adequate energy source, brain cells can’t function properly.  This lack of insulin getting into the brain is also problematic because insulin plays a role in neuroplasticity.  The first area impacted is the hippocampus, which is involved in memory formation, learning, spatial awareness, mood, emotional processing, and willpower.