The results of a promising new study show that a drug typically prescribed to treat diabetes can also significantly lower your risk of developing dementia later in life.
Cases of dementia are growing in number worldwide. And it’s not just a case of increasing population, the rate of dementia diagnosis is going up as well. It’s expected the number of people living with dementia in Australia will double by 2058.
There are a number of different risk factors for dementia, and many of them revolve around your weight, diet and exercise levels in midlife. Developing type 2 diabetes has also been shown to increase your chances of developing dementia by as much as 50 per cent.
Rates of diabetes are also on the rise. Between 2000 and 2021, the number of people with diabetes in Australia increased almost three-fold, from 460,000 to 1.3 million.
Which perhaps makes the results of a new large-scale study from South Korea into the effects of two types of diabetes medication on dementia unsurprising – but still good news.
Specifically, the researchers looked at whether long-term use of one of two drug classes – sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors, or dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors– inadults aged 40-69 had any effect on their likelihood of developing dementia later on.
What are SGLT-2 and DPP-4 inhibitors?
Apart from being a mouthful, the two drugs are both prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but work by different mechanisms.
SGLT-2 inhibitors stop your kidneys reabsorbing sugar that is created by your body, allowing any extra sugar to leave your body in your urine and not get reabsorbed into your bloodstream.
DPP-4 inhibitors work by blocking enzyme DPP-4, which normally destroys hormones known as incretins, which are produced in the stomach when you eat. Incretins play a vital role in insulin production and also help lower blood sugar levels.
Both of these drugs are taken orally as a tablet and are most often prescribed when other methods of controlling a patient’s type 2 diabetes have failed.
SGLT-2 inhibitors the clear winner
Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, the researchers selected 110,885 people aged 40-69, all with type 2 diabetes and who were taking either of the two medications.
Participants were selected to cover a wide range of variables, including age, sex, comorbidities, smoking status and income.
Over an average 670-day follow-up period, there were 1172 new diagnoses of dementia within the group.
The spread of cases showed that those taking SGLT-2 inhibitors had a 52 per cent lower risk of developing vascular dementia, and a 39 per cent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
The effect was even more pronounced in those who had been taking SGLT-2 inhibitors for more than two years.
“SGLT-2 inhibitors might prevent dementia, providing greater benefits with longer treatment,” the study concludes.
The researchers say the results are promising but further randomised trials are needed. So it may still be a while before doctors in Australia are prescribing SGLT-2 inhibitors for dementia prevention.
Do you take either of these diabetes medications? Is there a history of dementia in your family? Let us know in the comments section below.
And the prescription name for SGLT-2 inhibitors would be?
Was thinking the same.
But it doesn’t mention the side effects of taking SGLT-2 inhibitors !!!
This is where “Google is your friend” works well !!!