What is type 3 diabetes?
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are about blood sugar in the body. Type 3 diabetes is the idea that Alzheimer's is the same problem in the brain. Dr. Martin dates it to 2005, when he was hosting a radio show and read the research as it came out.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1232In 2005, they called Alzheimer's. It was named type three diabetes because it was diabetes of the brain.
It became a big topic on that show for weeks. He kept waiting for it to hit the news, and in his telling it never really caught on with doctors. He has been teaching it ever since.
What Mayo Clinic says about type 3 diabetes
This is why so many people search for Mayo Clinic and type 3 diabetes together. When Dr. Martin read that Mayo was using the term, he was delighted.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1306Mayo Clinic is now starting to call Alzheimer's type three diabetes.
To be precise about it, Mayo Clinic's own pages on the subject are research news, not a diagnosis page. In a 2018 Mayo Clinic research post, one of its researchers described it as more of a research term than a medical term, and your doctor will not write it on a chart. What the term points to, brain cells that stop responding to insulin, is the part Dr. Martin cares about.
Is Alzheimer's a form of diabetes?
In Dr. Martin's view, yes, at the level of the brain. His picture is a brain surrounded by fuel it cannot use.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1306The brain is swimming in fuel, but the wrong type, okay? There's fuel up there, but it's glucose and the brain is swimming in it and it can't use it.
He compares it to swimming in the Atlantic while you are dehydrated. The water is all around you and you cannot drink it. For years the focus in Alzheimer's has been amyloid plaque. He accepts plaque is part of the picture, but he does not think it is where the problem starts.
How insulin resistance affects the brain
Insulin's job is to take sugar out of the blood and put it away. Eat sugar and crappy carbs long enough and your cells stop answering it. That is insulin resistance, and he calls it the biggest problem behind Alzheimer's.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1232We know that in Alzheimer's, 50%, that insulin has trouble crossing the blood brain barrier when you have insulin resistance. Now, insulin can't go get the sugar.
So the sugar sits there. He calls insulin resistance one of the biggest causes of inflammation in the brain, and inflammation over a long period of time is what he links to the damage. More on how he spots it early: insulin resistance in women over 60.
Can you have type 3 diabetes without diabetes?
This is the part that surprises people. Dr. Martin says your blood sugar numbers can look fine and your brain can still be in trouble.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1166That even though you weren't a diabetic, I mean officially your brain was a diabetic, and that's Alzheimer's.
He says the same thing about how you look. Being slim is no guarantee, because fat can be stored around the organs and in the liver where you cannot see it.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1043Your brain becomes diabetic before the rest of you becomes diabetic. Hey, you can be skinny as the rake.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1516You might not have diabetes anywhere else that you know of, but you've got diabetes of the brain. You've got insulin resistance of the brain.
If you already have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, he sees it as the same story moving through the body. See can you get diabetes after 60.
Type 3 diabetes and the five types of dementia
Alzheimer's is one form of dementia. In this episode Dr. Martin drew the five types on a board, with his own rough breakdown:
- Alzheimer's, about 50% of cases. The brain shrinks. This is the one he calls type 3 diabetes.
- Vascular dementia, about 20%, from blood supply, often after a stroke or small vessel disease.
- Lewy body dementia, about 15%, abnormal cells in the brain. He sees it and Alzheimer's as two sides of one coin.
- Parkinson's dementia, about 5%.
- Frontal lobe dementia, about 5%, abnormal proteins in the brain.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 123250% of the cases of dementia are Alzheimer's.
That is why he talks about blood sugar and the brain almost every day. Surveys of older people, he says, put losing their memory above even dying as the biggest fear.
What Dr. Martin says to do about it
He is careful not to promise anything.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1232There's no guarantee of that. But you do everything you can.
Everything you can, in his book, starts with food.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 961We wanna do prevention of Alzheimer's. Start in the kitchen if nothing else.
Get rid of sugar and the sweet tooth, and lay off the crappy carbs. Then the rest of his list from this episode:
- Sun. Vitamin D for the brain's battery packs, the mitochondria.
- Steak. Eggs, meat and cheese for B12, cholesterol and fat, which he says the brain depends on.
- Steel. Muscle, especially the legs, because muscle helps with insulin.
- Sleep. Your brain clears out its garbage while you sleep. A 15 to 20 minute nap counts.
- Also on his list: DHA, coffee, probiotics and pine bark.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1232Whenever you do leg exercises, think of your brain.
If brain fog is what has you worried, start with brain fog in women over 60. And if you have a diagnosis or take medication for your blood sugar, make changes with your own doctor.
Common questions
What is type 3 diabetes?
It is a name for Alzheimer's disease seen as diabetes of the brain, where brain cells cannot use insulin properly. Dr. Martin dates the term to research in 2005.
Does Mayo Clinic recognize type 3 diabetes?
Mayo Clinic has used the term in its research news, and a Mayo researcher has called it a research term rather than a medical diagnosis.
Is Alzheimer's type 3 diabetes?
Dr. Martin says yes. He describes the Alzheimer's brain as swimming in glucose it cannot use because of insulin resistance.
Can you have type 3 diabetes without having diabetes?
In his view, yes. He says your brain can become diabetic before the rest of you does, even if you are slim.
How do you lower your risk of type 3 diabetes?
Dr. Martin starts in the kitchen: cut sugar and crappy carbs. Then sun, steak, steel and sleep.
Keeping an eye on your blood sugar?
For Dr. Martin, the plate comes first: less sugar, more real food. Blood Sugar Support Formula is the clinic's blend of seven botanicals and nutrients, made to support healthy blood sugar levels as part of that.
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