每日一翻：Diabetes Prevention in Midlife Helps Protect Aging Brain

Want to ward off memory issues and other cognitive problems as you age? Looks like low blood glucose levels are an important factor. New research finds that individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in middle age had greater cognitive impairment in the following decades than their nondiabetic counterparts.

想避免随着年龄增大出现的记忆问题和其他认知问题吗？较低的血糖水平似乎是一个重要因素。新的研究发现，在中年时期，与非糖尿病人相比，被诊断为2型糖尿病的人在接下来的几十年会有更大的认知障碍。

In fact, poorly managed diabetes appears to age the brain roughly five years faster than normal. That means a 55-year-old with diabetes has cognitive decline on par with a healthy 60-year-old. And the problems accumulate: over 20 years, diabetes in midlife is associated with a 19 percent decrease in mental function. Cognitive decline is considered a precursor to dementia. The findings are in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. [Andreea M. Rawlings et al, Diabetes in Midlife and Cognitive Change Over 20 Years: A Cohort Study]

事实上，糖尿病控制不善的人的大脑比正常人脑老化速度快了五年。那意味着一个55岁的糖尿病患者会比一个60岁的健康人的认知水平低。而且这个问题会积累：20年来，中年糖尿病患者的心智功能降低了19%。认知能力下降被认为是老年痴呆症的前兆。这项发现发表在《内科学年鉴》期刊上。

A team from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health followed some 6,000 study subjects in Maryland, North Carolina, Minnesota and Mississippi from 1987 through 2013. The researchers used accepted tests to evaluate the participants’ cognitive performance. And the people with low blood sugar levels outperformed those with midlife diabetes or pre-diabetes.

The researchers’ conclusion: better weight control, exercise and a healthful diet could really help keep both body—and mind—fit over the long haul.

研究人员得出的结论是：从长远来看，更好的体重控制、体育锻炼和健康饮食确实能够帮助人们保持身心健康。

—Dina Fine Maron