Diabetes Mellitus, cognitive impairment, and traditional Chinese medicine

S. W. Seto, G. Y. Yang, H. Kiat, A. Bensoussan, Y. W. Kwan, D. Chang

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    43 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder affecting a large number of people worldwide. Numerous studies have demonstrated that DM can cause damage to multiple systems, leading to complications such as heart disease, cancer, and cerebrovascular disorders. Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that DM is closely associated with dementia and cognition dysfunction, with recent research focusing on the role of DM-mediated cerebrovascular damage in dementia. Despite the therapeutic benefits of antidiabetic agents for the treatment of DM-mediated cognitive dysfunction, most of these pharmaceutical agents are associated with various undesirable side-effects and their long-term benefits are therefore in doubt. Early evidence exists to support the use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) interventions, which tend to have minimal toxicity and side-effects. More importantly, these TCM interventions appear to offer significant effects in reducing DM-related complications beyond blood glucose control. However, more research is needed to further validate these claims and to explore their relevant mechanisms of action. The aims of this paper are (1) to provide an updated overview on the association between DM and cognitive dysfunction and (2) to review the scientific evidence underpinning the use of TCM interventions for the treatment and prevention of DM-induced cognitive dysfunction and dementia.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number810439
    Number of pages14
    JournalInternational Journal of Endocrinology
    Volume2015
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Open Access - Access Right Statement

    © 2015 S. W. Seto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

    Keywords

    • diabetes
    • medicine, Chinese
    • metabolism disorders

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