Insulin may slow Alzheimer's, study shows

WASHINGTON -- Inhaling a concentrated cloud of insulin through the nose twice a day appears to slow, and in some cases reverse, symptoms of memory loss in people with early signs of Alzheimer's disease, a pilot study has found.

The study involved only 104 people and is considered preliminary. But it suggests that a safe, simple and cheap measure that boosts flagging metabolism in key areas of the brain could hold off or possibly derail the progression of the devastating neurological disorder in its early stages.

The results were published online by the journal Archives of Neurology.

Insulin is a metabolic hormone best known for its role in treating diabetes, a condition in which the hormone is either insufficiently produced or poorly used by the body's organs. In recent years, studies have found that people with diabetes and prediabetes are at heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's, and autopsies have shown that diabetics whose condition was tightly managed had fewer of the brain tangles and plaques that are the hallmark of disease. Studies involving animals have suggested that insulin deficiency in the brain may be a key factor in the progression of Alzheimer's.

Researchers from the Veterans Affairs' Puget Sound Health Care System in Washington state reached their conclusions by testing insulin on people without diabetes who had been diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimer's or amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

-- Los Angeles Times