A new study published in Diabetologia reveals that overweight and obese individuals with early stage type 2 diabetes (T2D) had more severe and progressive abnormalities in brain structure and cognition compared to normal-weight study participants.
The research conducted by Dr Sunjung Yoon and Dr In Kyoon Lyoo (Ewha Brain Institute, Ewha Womens University, Seoul, South Korea), Hanbyul Cho (The Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA), and colleagues in Korea and the USA looked into the effects of being overweight or obese on the brains and cognitive functions of people with early stage type 2 diabetes.
The study found that grey matter was significantly thinner in clusters in the temporal, prefrontoparietal, motor and occipital cortices of the brains of diabetic study participants when compared to the non-diabetic control group. Further thinning of the temporal and motor cortices was also observed in the overweight/obese diabetic group, compared to normal-weight diabetics. The team also discovered region-specific changes which suggested that the temporal lobe has a particular vulnerability to the combined effects of having type 2 diabetes and being overweight or obese.
Citation: Yoon, Sujung, Hanbyul Cho, Jungyoon Kim, Do-Wan Lee, Geon Ha Kim, Young Sun Hong, Sohyeon Moon, Shinwon Park, Sunho Lee, Suji Lee, Sujin Bae, Donald C. Simonson, and In Kyoon Lyoo. “Brain changes in overweight/obese and normal-weight adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.” Diabetologia, 2017.
doi:10.1007/s00125-017-4266-7.
Adapted from press release by Diabetologia.