Most people are aware of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but did you know there is a type 3 diabetes as well! It is a more obscure term. Although it is not an accepted medical diagnosis, type 3 diabetes has been discussed in the literature as a possible relationship between insulin resistance in the brain and Alzheimer's disease. This link has been described to help explain how metabolic disorders impact brain health, causing cognitive decline and dementia.

What is Type 3 Diabetes?

Type 3 diabetes is more of a misnomer because it should not be confused with type 3c diabetes, which relates to pancreatic dysfunction. The term "type 3 diabetes," on the other hand, has been loosely used by some scientists to analogously propose that Alzheimer's disease is strongly implicated with insulin resistance in the brain.

This concept was conceptualized by Dr. Suzanne de la Monte and Dr. Jack Wands of Brown University in the year 2008. This hypothesis postulated that Alzheimer's disease may be called type 3 diabetes for it bears many similarities with glucose metabolism disorder type 2 diabetes. Their concept arises from the basic principle that insulin is fundamental to blood sugar regulation, but it is also the case with the brain. When brain cells become insulin-resistant, they lose access to glucose, impairing their function.

Research published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology supports this hypothesis by indicating that insulin resistance can be a significant contributor to the occurrence of dementia, also referred to as Alzheimer's. The symptoms of memory loss and diminished reasoning are associated with impaired glucose metabolism in the body, especially in the cerebral tissue.

Symptoms of Type 3 Diabetes

Although type 3 diabetes is not a "medical term," its symptoms correlate well with Alzheimer's diseases that are known to reduce the ability to think in an efficient manner and bring down brain health. These signs are:

- Loss of memory, especially short-term.

- Poor judgment and judgment ability

- Failure in recognizing people or places familiar once.

- Failure in the process of reading, writing or processing numbers

- Anxiety, agitation, or mood changes.

- Disorganized thoughts or confusion

- Lack of impulse control

As the disease advances, patients may be afflicted with severe complications including an inability to swallow or control their bodily functions. In the final stages, most patients die from fatal complications such as aspiration pneumonia.

Causes of Type 3 Diabetes

This may not be well understood with regards to type 3 diabetes, or the exact link between insulin resistance and Alzheimer's disease. Some identified contributing factors include the following:

1. Insulin Resistance

Insulin acts as an important regulatory mechanism of brain functions such as memory and cognition. The reduction in insulin signaling may impair metabolism of brain cells, thus bringing about neurodegeneration.

2. Type 2 Diabetes

These diseases show a strong relationship and those individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have double chances of getting Alzheimer's. In the two, the main causes can be chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and a defect in glucose metabolism.

3. Environmental and Lifestyle Factors

Insulin resistance associated with obesity, stress, and an unhealthy diet is considered a cause that may increase the chances of Alzheimer's disease.

Researches in Frontiers in Neuroscience and The Lancet Neurology have also highlighted that drugs used for antidiabetic medication may be crucial for the prevention or at least slowing down the course of Alzheimer's.

Treatments for Type 3 Diabetes

In 2022, in a study in Pharmaceuticals, researchers studied biomarker uptake in brain regions implicated in the faulty uptake and metabolism of blood sugar in Alzheimer’s patients.

Emerging Therapies

Research into such treatments as intranasal insulin has also been promising. Intranasal delivery of insulin directly to the brain has been reported to enhance glucose uptake by brain cells, improve memory, and boost cognitive performance. While such clinical trials have been shown to be successful, additional research is needed for safety and efficacy.

Medications

For patients being aggressive or agitated, antipsychotic drugs may be prescribed; however, therapies such as cognitive rehabilitation as well as cognitive stimulation therapy serve to preserve memory and executive function.

Lifestyle Interventions

Diet, exercise, and stress management are critical in preventing and managing insulin resistance. A review in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease also highlighted the benefits of Kirtan Kriya meditation, which can regulate genes involved in insulin and glucose metabolism, improve sleep, and reduce inflammation.

Can Type 3 Diabetes Be Prevented?

Although type 3 diabetes is not officially recognized, its connection to Alzheimer’s disease underscores the importance of proactive measures for brain health. Some prevention strategies include:

1. Healthy Diet

Consuming a balanced diet rich in antioxidants, whole grains, and healthy fats may support brain health.

2. Regular Exercise

Physical activity improves insulin sensitivity, reduces inflammation, and enhances overall metabolic health.

3. Stress Reduction

Mindfulness practices, including meditation, have been shown to lower stress levels, which can reduce the risk of cognitive decline.

The term type 3 diabetes brings out the complex relationship between metabolic disorders and brain health. Even though it is not a recognized medical condition, the concept emphasizes the crucial role of insulin in brain function and its possible contribution to Alzheimer's disease. Continued research will hopefully provide hope for therapies such as intranasal insulin and lifestyle modifications.

From bone smashing to black market peptides, the modern push to “optimize” the male body increasingly runs through human endocrinology, often without a doctor anywhere in the loop.

A Trend That Outgrew Its Origins

Looksmaxxing began on incel forums that blamed romantic failure on fixed facial geometry. That ideology has since spread to TikTok and Instagram, stripped of some of its uglier language but keeping its core premise: a man’s body can and should be engineered, whatever the cost. What started as a fringe belief system now functions as mainstream influencer content with millions of followers.

Clinicians split the practice into softmaxing (sleep, skincare, fitness, mostly harmless) and hardmaxxing, which branches into two wings: mechanical (bone smashing, jaw implants, leg lengthening) and pharmaceutical (unsupervised testosterone, anabolic steroids, SARMs, and peptides marketed as growth hormone substitutes). The pharmaceutical wing is growing fastest, and it sits squarely in endocrinology’s territory.

What These Drugs Actually Do

The body regulates testosterone through a feedback loop running from the hypothalamus to the pituitary to the testes. Flood that system with outside testosterone or anabolic steroids, and it shuts down its own production, taking fertility down with it. SARMs were built to act on muscle and bone while sparing the prostate, but none are approved for human use, and the versions sold online are unregulated and inconsistently dosed. Peptides like ibutamoren (MK-677) stimulate the body’s own growth hormone release. The mechanism sounds gentler, but few have completed real clinical trials for the uses they are marketed for.

The Documented Harms

Anabolic steroids:

● Testicular atrophy and infertility from HPG axis suppression

● Gynecomastia, from testosterone converting to estrogen

● Hepatotoxicity, especially with oral forms

● Psychiatric effects at high doses, including mood instability

SARMs:

● Liver injury, including cholestatic jaundice in black market cases

● Dose-dependent suppression of natural testosterone production

● Elevated liver enzymes, reduced HDL cholesterol

Across the board:

● Elevated hematocrit, raising clotting risk if unmonitored

● Adrenal suppression and disruption of corticosteroid and DHEAS production: exogenous androgens interfere with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, blunting the adrenal gland’s output of cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS). The result is impaired stress response, fatigue, and hormonal dysregulation that persists well after the substance is stopped.

● Elevated blood pressure and increased cardiac sympathetic drive: anabolic agents raise systolic pressure and heighten sympathetic nervous system activity in the heart, accelerating resting heart rate and increasing myocardial oxygen demand. Over time, this contributes to left ventricular hypertrophy and raises the risk of arrhythmia.

● Unreliable contents: labels rarely match what is actually in the product, and contamination or substitution is common enough that toxicology reports periodically turn up drugs users never intended to take.

The Mechanical Risks

Bone smashing has no basis in orthopedic science. Bone remodels under sustained load, not blunt trauma, which produces fractures, hematomas, and sometimes permanent damage. Cosmetic jaw implants and leg lengthening are legitimate procedures in the right clinical context, but carry the same surgical risks, infection, nerve damage, long recovery, without the medical justification that normally accompanies them.

The pharmaceutical track carries its own structural toll: supraphysiological androgen levels accelerate calcification in tendons and menisci, reducing their elasticity and load-bearing capacity. Meniscal and tendon calcinosis increases the risk of tears and joint instability, often in the absence of any acute injury. Athletes who stop using these compounds may find the damage is already done.

A related danger runs alongside both tracks. Some men adopt extreme dieting, dehydration, or fasting protocols purely to sharpen jaw and cheekbone definition before photos. The behavior carries the same physical risks as any restrictive eating disorder, yet it rarely gets recognized or treated as one, since it is framed online as discipline rather than disorder.

Why Now

Gallup polling found that roughly a quarter of young American men report frequent loneliness, a notably higher rate than young women. Online communities built around appearance fill that gap with something that looks like belonging, even though the content itself runs on comparison and self-criticism.

TikTok’s own data illustrate how fast the trend has moved: searches for bone smashing and related terms ran in the hundreds of thousands per day in early 2026 and climbed into the millions within a month, before the platform restricted the content. Marketing has kept pace too: one UK survey found nearly a third of 16 to 25-year-olds see SARM ads on social media weekly.

What Legitimate Treatment Looks Like

TRT for confirmed hypogonadism, diagnosed through repeat morning bloodwork and monitored over time, is genuinely effective medicine. That is a different undertaking entirely from a eugonadal man sourcing hormones or peptides online to chase a feeling, with no diagnosis and no monitoring. The same distinction applies to surgery: a qualified surgeon’s evaluation is not the same as a procedure booked off a forum recommendation.

The Bottom Line

None of this is an argument against fitness or grooming, and most softmaxxing is harmless. The danger lies in a narrower set of behaviors: fracturing healthy bone, importing unregulated hormones, chasing a standard that keeps moving regardless of what is achieved.

Endocrinologists studying this are not against masculinity or ambition about one’s appearance. They are arguing that hormonal systems deserve the same evidence-based caution as any other organ system, and that distinction matters more now that these behaviors are still treated as cultural curiosities rather than the clinical concerns they actually are. A blood test and a doctor’s judgment remain better tools than a forum thread and a vial of unknown origin.

The United Kingdom is facing constant heatwaves. So far, the nation has witnessed two heatwaves, while the natural temperature increases usually during late July and August, thus creating fear and the possibility of more and more temperature rises. As the country has been going through a weather roller-coaster since May, there was a huge area of high pressure, commonly explained as a 'heat dome'. This resulted in dry, very warm, and sunny weather in the island nation.

Notably, the temperature soared up to 35.1 °C in London during the month of May. The temperature in the UK has been on a rising trend over the past few years, and the first time it touches 40C in July 2022. And according to the experts at the Met Office, if global warming continues at its current pace, temperatures in the mid-forties could be a serious possibility for the UK by 2050.

The World Health Organization advises people to drink plenty of water, avoid going outdoors during the hottest hours of the day, wear loose and light-coloured clothing, and keep homes as cool as possible as temperatures continue to spike across many parts of the world.

Indians are used to living with intense summer heat, and over the years, people have developed simple yet effective ways to cope with it. Many prefer to finish outdoor work during the cooler hours of the morning or after sunset. Drinking plenty of water and traditional cooling beverages, seeking shade whenever possible, and keeping a close eye on elderly family members, young children, and people with existing health problems are all common practices during extended spells of extreme heat.

Also Read: Why Thousands Of Black Men In The UK Are Now Being Invited For Prostate Cancer Screening?

Hospitals Under Pressure Throughout Western Europe And Strict Restrictions

The worsening conditions have disrupted healthcare services, with media reports saying hospitals have had to postpone critical imaging scans after sensitive equipment overheated. Cities have also opened emergency cooling centers to protect vulnerable residents.

In Paris, authorities have announced temporary bans on public alcohol consumption and takeaway alcohol sales to ease pressure on hospitals. Public drinking will be prohibited from noon to 7 a.m. over the weekend, while takeaway alcohol sales will be banned between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m.

The extreme temperatures have also reached the sporting world. Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, has declared another "heat hazard" ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring, triggering additional measures to protect drivers, teams, and spectators.

The June 2026 heatwave has triggered red alerts across France, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and killed dozens of people.

How Does Heat Impact Health?

Health experts warn that prolonged exposure to extreme heat can have serious and sometimes fatal consequences, particularly for older adults and people with underlying medical conditions.

According to the WHO, extreme heat can overwhelm the body's ability to regulate temperature, increasing the risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. As the body works harder to cool itself, it places added strain on the heart and kidneys, potentially worsening chronic conditions such as cardiovascular, respiratory, mental health, and diabetes-related illnesses, and increasing the risk of acute kidney injury.

Although monsoon rains provide relief from the unbearable summer heat, they also increase the risk of infections, dehydration, and diseases that are transmitted through water and that can affect the functioning of your kidneys. Since kidneys play a crucial role in eliminating toxins from your body and maintaining fluid balance, kidney care during the monsoon season becomes necessary.

Stay Hydrated

Though it is cooler during monsoon rains, your body needs enough water to help the kidneys filter the toxins efficiently. Try drinking 2-3 liters of clean water daily, or according to the requirement advised by your doctor. Avoid drinking contaminated water, as it increases the risk of infections in the kidneys.

Eat Healthy and Fresh Food

Eat fresh and cooked food at home instead of junk food that might get contaminated during the monsoon rains. Include seasonal fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy protein sources in your diet. Restrict the intake of excess salt, canned products, and sugar drinks.

Prevent Infections

The monsoon season is prone to UTIs that may eventually reach the kidneys if not treated on time. Keep your body clean, wear dry clothes, and never keep urine in your bladder for a prolonged period. In case you have burning sensations while passing urine, fever, or pain in your lower abdomen, do see a doctor.

Control Health Problems

Individuals suffering from diabetes, hypertension, or pre-existing kidney problems should take special care of themselves throughout the monsoon. They should be taking their medications, measuring their sugar and blood pressure levels, and undergoing regular medical examinations to avoid kidney diseases.

No Self-medication

Analgesics and other OTC medications can cause damage to the kidneys when consumed frequently and without consulting a doctor.

Conclusion

It does not take much effort to maintain the health of your kidneys during the monsoon season. Simple things such as staying well-hydrated, consuming hygienic food, preventing any infection, keeping control of existing illnesses, and taking no medicines unnecessarily will ensure that your kidneys continue to perform at their best. In case of any swelling, change in urine output, fever, or back pain, you must see a doctor right away. The importance of the kidneys is undeniable for your well-being.

(By Dr. Bhanu Mishra, a Consultant- Nephrologist at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh)