2023-06-21 08:00:39
By activating the immune system, hypos may also cause damage to the heart and blood vessels
People with diabetes who use insulin regularly have a hypo. This low blood sugar makes it much more difficult for the brain to process information, according to PhD research by Clementine Verhulst of Radboudumc. By activating the immune system, hypos may also cause damage to the heart and blood vessels.
A hypo. People with diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, know all too well what this means. Due to low blood sugar, they suffer from all kinds of symptoms. These range from sweating, nervousness and disturbed vision to confusion, muscle spasms and even epileptic seizures. Clementine Verhulst of Radboudumc shows with her PhD research that the brain is much less able to process information during a hypo. She also shows that hypos have a long-term impact on the immune system.
Frightening
In her research, Verhulst induced hypos through controlled administration of insulin and sugar. With that she took over the sugar regulation of the body. She did this in both people with diabetes and healthy people. Scare the last group. ‘It was the first time for them that they had a hypo,’ says Verhulst. “They were really surprised how annoying that is.”
She then investigated whether a hypo affects the processing of information by the brain. It showed that people score much worse during a hypo, regardless of whether they have diabetes or not. The type of diabetes also makes no difference. Verhulst: ‘That is remarkable. Because type 1 diabetes often manifests itself at a young age, people have lived with their disease for so long that they become accustomed to hypos. They feel them less well and think they function fine. That turns out not to be the case.’
Verhulst also shows that a hypo activates the immune system. For example, a certain type of immune cells in the blood was increased. And not only during the hypo, but also a week after. This cell type strengthens the immune response by producing much more inflammatory substances than other immune cells. Finally, the research shows that the effects on the immune system also occur with repeated exposure to hypos. So there was no habituation here either.
Heart and vascular disease
Research leader and internist Bastiaan de Galan explains what these findings mean for people with diabetes: ‘They should be aware that they function much less well during a hypo, even if they are used to it. Consider, for example, driving a car. There are also plenty of people who say that they can still drive fine after three beers, because they are used to it. But that’s not the case either.’
The influence of hypos on the immune system may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease. They are very common in people with diabetes, but the cause has not yet been fully elucidated. De Galan: ‘It is known that inflammation causes damage to the heart and blood vessels, so hypos may indeed play a role. Our research makes it clear that a hypo is much more than just an annoying disruption of the daily rhythm.’
Source: Radboudumc
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