Free The Animal

It was last April when I pointed to a study suggesting that Alzheimer’s might be linked to the whole sugar-insulin deal. That is: refined carbs and sugar, again. I pointed to this post at The IF Life in last weekend’s roundup, but here it is again for reference. This adds an interesting twist, in identifying an inflammatory omega-6 fat, arachidonic acid, as a potential culprit. And all this leads to speculation and hypotheses, now, that Alzheimer’s is actually a kind of third type of diabetes. Now scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling — crucial for memory formation — would stop working in Alzheimer’s disease. They have shown that a toxic protein found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, rendering those neurons insulin resistant. (The protein, known to attack memory-forming synapses, is called an ADDL for “amyloid ß-derived diffusible ligand.”) With other research showing that levels of brain insulin and its related receptors are lower in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, the Northwestern study sheds light on the emerging idea of Alzheimer’s being a “type 3″ diabetes. As Mike O’Donnell says: Insulin and inflammation do run hand in hand. So could…

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Chris sent this to me earlier in email (thanks, man). Whilst considering whether to blog it, or not, I note that he already has.

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That’s a partially tongue-in-cheek question, but also partly serious. What I really mean to ask is: is there a reasonably effective treatment for most forms of cancer that’s already basically understood and available? And if so, why is it not in the mainstream? Whatever the reason, if indeed there is “a cure,” could the blogosphere then act as the medium for wide distribution of the information, bypassing traditional outlets, until such point as so many anecdotes of successful control or eradication tip the balance? Well, let’s see. I don’t have a whole lot to say, but others do, lots of them very smart people. If you take the time to get through it — and you should, just on the reasonable chance there’s something to it — you’re going to get quite an education on just what cancer is, how it grows, and thus, what might be the most effective way to combat it. First, let me address the question of cancer quackery. It exists on the faulty premise that there is significant financial incentive to explicitly not cure cancer, but to keep it alive and well whilst developing drugs to manage it, hopefully in a manner that has patients…

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