Insulin resistance is a major health concern, which causes your body to stop responding as it should to insulin - a hormone your pancreas makes that is essential for regulating blood sugar levels. According to experts, several genetic and lifestyle factors can contribute to insulin resistance. Apart from causing issues in other body parts, insulin resistance is increasingly recognized for its intense profound effects on brain function - potentially contributing to vulnerability to neurodegenerative diseases.

Experts say insulin enters your brain by being transported across the blood-brain barrier by specific transporters, entering key brain regions including the hypothalamus, pons, hippocampus, amygdala, striatum, cerebellum, parietal, and frontal cortices. Insulin receptors are widely expressed and distributed across the brain and are mainly the insulin receptor-A isoform rather than the longer, more prominent isoform IR-B found in the rest of the body.

Once insulin binds to the IR-A, the receptor undergoes autophosphorylation and becomes activated, leading to the downstream phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate proteins.

One of the biggest factors contributing to a variety of brain decline happens due to insulin resistance – which, according to experts, becomes more prominent as you age. Studies say insulin resistance increases the risk of degenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease by up to 60 per cent in people with type-2 diabetes. In Alzheimer’s, there is much lower brain glucose uptake and metabolism coupled with a decrease in insulin signaling and receptor activity compared to age-matched healthy aged adults.

Also, the amyloid-beta causes a loss of IR-A on dendrites and affects long-term potentiation. And so, many experts refer to type-2 diabetes-induced Alzheimer’s disease sometimes as type-3 due to the close link between insulin resistance and induced Alzheimer’s pathology and cognitive ability.

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. Symptoms eventually grow severe enough to interfere with daily tasks.

According to studies, insulin resistance can cause dementia and negatively affect your brain in several ways:

• Cells do not get fuel
• Blood sugar levels go up
• Too much insulin throws off the balance of chemicals in your brain

Some scientists believe that problems with blood sugar control lead to people with insulin resistance being 2-4 more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Insulin resistance in the brain can lead to the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer's disease, similar to how insulin resistance in the body can lead to type 2 diabetes.

According to doctors, since all factors that contribute to insulin resistance cannot be treated, a few lifestyle modifications are the primary treatment for the condition and can prevent dementia. A few of these include:

Avoid eating excessive amounts of carbohydrates and eat less unhealthy fat, sugar, red meats, and processed starches. Eat a diet of whole foods that includes more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, and lean poultry.

Indulging in regular amounts of moderate-intensity physical activity increases glucose energy usage and improves muscle insulin sensitivity.

Try to lose excess weight to try to treat insulin resistance.