Diabetes ages the mind and can bring on earlier dementia

Diabetes in middle age can “age the mind” by five years, potentially hastening the onset of dementia in later life, a new study has shown.

More than three million people in the UK are living with diabetes and there is mounting evidence that the illness is linked to memory and thinking problems in old age.

In a new analysis of health data from nearly 16,000 people in the USA, who have been followed up since the 1980s, researchers saw direct links between the condition and cognitive decline.

They found that, on average, a 60-year-old with diabetes experienced a decline in their brain function that was on par with a 65-year-old without diabetes.

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Autumn Statement: David Cameron announces new fund to tackle dementia

The Prime Minister says that the Autumn Statement will contain a pledge to provide £15 million for the fight against dementia.

A new multi-million pound fund to tackle dementia will be announced in this week’s Autumn Statement, David Cameron has said, as he warned that the disease is “one of the greatest enemies of humanity”.

The Prime Minister said that George Osborne, the Chancellor, will use Wednesday’s statement to announce a £15million fund to help find innovative new cures for the disease.

Mr Cameron said that the Government must “play our part in defeating” dementia in the coming years.

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Can a pill cure binge drinking and dementia?

"'Wonder' drug could cure binge drinking, Alzheimer's and dementia," the Mail Online reports. But before you raise a glass or two, these are premature claims based on research in rats that has not yet been proven, or even tested, in people.

Researchers gave rats alcohol to mimic the habits of human binge drinking. After three weeks of binging, the rats had signs of damage to their brain and performed worse at tasks that involved running through mazes.

When the scientists gave some of the mice a compound called ethane-β-sultam, it significantly reduced the alcohol-associated brain damage and inflammation, and resulted in improved performance in the maze tests.

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NHS to discontinue dementia diagnosis payments to GP practices

Scheme to improve diagnosis rates that has been fiercely criticised by GPs and patient groups will not be renewed in March.



A controversial scheme to pay GPs’ practices £55 each time they diagnose a patient with dementia is to be discontinued, the head of the NHS in England has announced.

GPs’ representatives and patient groups fiercely condemned the payments, which are part of a drive to increase diagnoses of the condition, as ethically questionable and damaging to the relationship between doctor and patient.

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