New form of diabetes may be associated with Alzheimer's disease

• Scientists say they may have discovered a previously unknown form of diabetes, after finding the brain produces insulin as well as the pancreas.
• Unlike other types of diabetes, the form - dubbed type 3 by the US Brown Medical School team - is not thought to affect blood sugar.
• Type 3 affects brain insulin levels, and appears to be linked with Alzheimer's disease.
• The so-called 'type 3' diabetes refers to lower than normal levels of newly discovered brain insulin, which appears to be associated with Alzheimer's disease in some way.
• Scientists have known for some time that people with diabetes have an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease - by up to 65%.
• They have also discovered that many type 2 diabetics have deposits of a protein in their pancreas which is similar to the protein deposits found in the brain tissue of people with Alzheimer's disease.
• They say this insulin and its related growth factors and receptors in the brain are vital for the survival of brain cells.
• In the case of Alzheimer's, the cells that die are located in the part of the brain involved with memory, called the hippocampus.
• Dr de la Monte, who is a neuropathologist at Rhode Island Hospital, said: "What we found is that insulin is not just produced in the pancreas, but also in the brain.
• A spokeswoman from the Alzheimer's Research Trust said: "Researchers have believed for some time that the role of insulin and its growth factors are very important in Alzheimer's disease.
• Professor Greg Cole, from the University of California Los Angeles' Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, said: "This is a new finding.
• "I suspect that the brain insulin itself is not very significant and neither is its deficit in Alzheimer's disease and, therefore, I wouldn't call it type 3 diabetes."