Anti-Aging Research: Researchers Link Blood Sugar to Normal Cognitive Aging

Senior moments are a normal part of aging. Such lapses in memory, according to this new research, could be blamed, at least in part, on rising blood glucose levels as we age. The findings suggest that exercising to improve blood sugar levels could be a way for some people to stave off the normal cognitive decline that comes with age.

Previously, using high-resolution brain imaging, Dr. Small and his colleagues discovered that decreasing brain function in one area of the hippocampus, called the dentate gyrus, is a main contributor of normal decline in memory as we age. Showing for the first time that blood glucose selectively targets the dentate gyrus is not only our most conclusive finding, but it is the most important for 'normal' aging- that is hippocampal dysfunction that occurs in the absence of any disease states.

Read details on this blood sugar link to cognitive decline.