Bill and I recently watched a documentary on keto (I know, weāre wild) and it was talking about using keto as a way to control diabetes. Since keto controls the amount of insulin your body needs, it seems like a no-brainer that those with diabetes should be on a keto diet. I started wondering how solid that research is, so Iām writing a series of blogs on diabetes and keto. We have looked at type 1 and type 2 already. Now we look at whether there is a type 3 diabetes, and how keto might impact that.
Is There a Type 3 Diabetes?
If you ask the health professionals, you will get an emphatic and assertive, āNO!ā However, if you ask many mainstream people, you will get a different answer. Type 3 diabetes is usually used as a term in relation to Alzheimerās disease, particularly if the person had type 2 diabetes before diagnosis. Alzheimerās is from a type of insulin resistance in your brain, and that insulin resistance is why some call it type 3.
The Role of Insulin
Insulin is a hormone that the body uses to allow sugar into the cells to produce energy. Our pancreas makes it and pushes it out into the bloodstream. The insulin opens the door to our cells for sugar to go in and this gives us energy. Because the insulin is helping sugar go into the cells, there isnāt as much sugar in our bloodstream. As the amount of sugar in our blood lowers, the amount of insulin your body makes decreases.
Main Symptoms of Type 3 Diabetes
The most commonly associated symptom of Alzheimerās disease is memory loss that affects your daily living and social interactions. I have known several people who had the diagnosis of Alzheimerās. This is the most terrifying part of the disease. Knowing that this is your diagnosis is almost worse than the eventual outcome.
People with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s start having difficulty completing familiar tasks. They begin having a hard time making judgements based on information. They may also experience sudden changes in personality and demeanor.
People who have Alzheimer’s, or type 3 diabetes, have a life expectancy of 3-11 years. There have been people who have lived as long as 20 years after they receive the diagnosis.
Can the Keto Diet Help with Type 3 Diabetes?
Early research indicates that the keto diet can help with type 3 diabetes. If you reduce the levels of insulin in your system, you slow the progression of the disease. When you switch to burning ketones instead of glucose, your brain no longer has to worry about processing insulin. Itās working off of the ketones, not glucose.
From the preliminary research, it seems like keto can help slow down the progression of the disease. That doesnāt mean that it will reverse itself and people will live healthy lives if they turn to keto. But, it does seem to slow things down. It just makes sense, to me, that if your brain canāt process insulin, the less insulin you give it, the better your health will be. Iām not a doctor, Iām not a scientist, but that seems to make sense.
A Final Thought
Whether you call it type 3 diabetes or Alzheimerās disease, itās terrifying. People with type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. People who have type 2 diabetes and donāt know it are at a much higher risk. It seems to me that if keto can help both type 2 and type 3 diabetes, it should be a go-to.
Do doctors not recommend keto because they view it as a āfad diet?ā Our own doctor is not a big fan of it. He knows we do it, he gets us to run blood tests every year to ensure it isnāt doing damage, but I know he would not recommend it. I understand the research is not complete yet. But, if a way of eating can help, I hope health professionals wouldnāt dismiss it just because they donāt consider it a real option.
Wendy
