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.

Padma Bhushan Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin, leading hepatologist, gastroenterologist, and medical educator who also serves as the Senior Professor, Chancellor, and Director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), recently spoke about the dos and don’ts to maintain a healthy liver at the Times Health Summit 2026.

Held under the theme “The Blueprint for a Future-Ready Healthcare Ecosystem – Innovation. Access. Self-Reliance,” the summit brought together healthcare professionals and industry stakeholders to discuss innovation, access to treatment and policy approaches shaping India's healthcare sector.

Should You Drink Hot Water In The Morning For Bowel Movement?

The doctor addressed the daily morning ritual of drinking hot water in the morning, which a lot of people follow to release bowels.

Dr Sarin said, “Don't use hot water or anything for that matter to make you go to the toilet because it is the connection between the brain and the bowel that is very important.

He also spoke about opting for other drinks like coconut water or lemon water with honey. He said that lemon can help improve iron absorption in your body.

He added, “As per coconut water is concerned, it has potassium which is very good for your bowel health but it should still not be an everyday thing. For nimbu and honey, you should remember that honey has fructose. So if you are consuming honey, you also need to churn that out."

Also read: Fatty Liver Disease: Scientists Identify 5 Subtypes With Different Health Risks

Ideal Time for Breakfast

Many of us do not know what is the right time for breakfast. It is especially important as eating after fasting for eight to ten hours affects your energy and metabolic health throughout the day.

Dr Sarin said, "It's after sunrise. Minimum 12 hours after the last food that you have eaten. Ussay pehle galti nahi kariyega khaanay ki. Let the stomach, and the bacteria and the intestine recover."

He also spoke about whether you should have fruits for breakfast. "Breakfast should be fruits. And, low calories fruits. Avoid carbs."

Also read: The Changing Obesity Treatment Landscape: Where Does Bariatric Surgery Fit in the Age of Weight-Loss Drugs?

How Coffee Affects The Liver

There is a lot of information as well as misinformation about coffee consumption and liver health. Dr S K Sarin spoke in its favour and said that it could prevent a lot of liver conditions.

He said, "It does many things. it clears several toxic things including fat, clears the flow of bile, good enzyme inducer, prevents fibrosis of the liver and can decrease cirrhosis and also the development of liver cancer."

He also warned ignoring healthy dietary habits and simply relying on coffee is also not ideal. He added, "Coffee is not medicine, it is something which can help you prevent and not treat."

Is Your Lunch Completely Healthy?

Dr Sarin also warned against eating more amount carbohydrates than the recommended limit. He explained how sitting next to an obese person can make you feel physically lethargic as their breath may emit endogenous alcohol.

When you eat a carbohydrate-heavy meal, your digestive system breaks down carbohydrates into sugars. Certain microorganisms in the gut, including yeasts and some bacteria, can ferment these sugars and produce small amounts of ethanol, or alcohol. This is known as endogenous alcohol production.

Dr Sarin recommends eating low-carb meals for lunch like sprouts, vegetables, yoghurt, buttermilk or low-sugar fruits.

Late-Night Eating Is A Red Flag

Dr Sarin recommends having dinner before sunset. He also said that having late-night dinners could disrupt your sleep.

He added, "Obesity during youth increases the risk of heart disease later in life. After the age of 40, eating one meal a day may have health implications. The total daily calorie intake should not exceed 300–400. Avoid eating late at night. Eating late can also affect your insulin resistance."

Yearly Screening To Keep Liver Health In Check

Dr Sarin also said that thin people can also have unhealthy fat that may cause fatty liver. He recommended yearly screens to keep liver health in check.

He said, "Even thin people can have excess body fat and low muscle mass, which may affect their health. Being thin does not necessarily mean being healthy. Maintaining good muscle mass is important."

In a significant step toward advancing xenotransplantation—the transplantation of organs or tissues from animals into humans—in India, a dedicated department has been established, with research and regulatory work underway. The country’s first animal-to-human organ transplant could follow, subject to government approval and the establishment of legal and ethical guidelines.

The initiative aims to help bridge the organ shortage in the country, Dr. Shikhar Tripathi, Director of the Department of Xenotransplantation Sciences at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, helming the project, told HealthandMe.

Dr. Tripathi, who has trained with Dr. David K. C. Cooper, a British surgeon-scientist and pioneer of modern xenotransplantation, believes India could perform its first xenotransplant within six months of receiving government permission.

The push comes as xenotransplantation continues to make progress internationally. In 2025, a patient received a genetically engineered pig kidney and lived without dialysis for 271 days before subsequently receiving a human kidney transplant.

India recorded 20,138 organ transplants in 2025, ranking third globally. However, the gap between the demand for and supply of organs remains significant, with deceased-donor donations accounting for a small share of transplants.

Dr. Tripathi estimates India’s annual organ shortage at around 90,000. According to data reported by hospitals and transplant centers on the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) National Registry Portal, the waiting list for major organs stood at 89,839 as of March 3, 2026.

Kidneys accounted for the largest share of patients on the waiting list, followed by livers, hearts, lungs and pancreases.

In an interview with HealthandMe, Dr. Tripathi, who is also working with Dr. Cooper at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute in Pittsburgh, US, discussed the scientific barriers, infection risks, regulatory requirements and potential of xenotransplantation in India.

Also read: Pig Kidney Works In Human Body For 271 Days: Why Xenotransplants Could Bridge The Organ Transplant Gap

Q. A pig kidney functioned for 271 days without dialysis in a human. What does this milestone mean for xenotransplantation?

Dr. Shikhar Tripathi: Xenotransplantation has achieved significant milestones, but researchers are still working toward long-term viability. For now, it could serve as a bridge for patients who need an organ while researchers work to address complications and improve graft survival.

“Xenotransplantation has achieved some really significant milestones in the last year or so.”

Q. What are the main barriers to long-term survival of a transplanted animal organ?

Dr. Tripathi: Genetic engineering has helped researchers modify the pig genome to reduce the risk of early rejection. The challenge now is managing late complications, particularly in kidney xenotransplantation.

Two major concerns are proteinuria, or leakage of proteins through the kidney, and thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), which involves injury to microscopic blood vessels.

“The current barrier we face is late complications of xenotransplantation.”

He added that his group has published research identifying potential pathways involved in proteinuria and TMA and is investigating ways to address these complications.

Read More: World Organ Donation Day 2026: Too Old Or Too Sick To Donate Organs? Doctors Bust Key Myths

Q. What are the infection risks associated with xenotransplantation, and why is lifelong monitoring important?

Dr. Tripathi: One concern is zoonosis, or the transmission of infection from an animal or animal organ to a human. Genetic modifications are intended to address this risk.

“There have been as many as 69 gene edits that have been done by eGenesis,” he said, referring to the company developing genetically engineered organs for transplantation.

Dr. Tripathi believes the risk of zoonotic infection is minimal, but this does not eliminate the risk of infection. Patients also face infections associated with immunosuppression, which is used to prevent their immune systems from rejecting a transplanted organ.

Dr. Tripathi’s group is also working toward accommodation and tolerance, which could allow transplanted organs to function with less immunosuppression.

He said lifelong monitoring of recipients will be needed to track outcomes and ensure continued medical care.

Q. India continues to face a significant organ shortage. How could xenotransplantation help bridge the gap between demand and supply?

Dr. Tripathi: India’s annual organ shortage is around 90,000, and it is increasing. The challenge is not just finding donors but ensuring they are medically fit and compatible with recipients.

He recalled a case in which an 85-year-old father-in-law was willing to donate a kidney to his daughter-in-law, but his age made him unsuitable, and no other family member was a match.

“The question is not whether you have a donor available. It’s also whether your donor is healthy or not,” he said.

He also raised ethical concerns about dependence on deceased-donor organs, arguing that patients should have alternatives that do not depend on another person’s death.

“I think xenotransplantation is not just going to solve a medical problem. It’s going to solve a moral problem,” he said.

READ: India Records 20,138 Organ Transplants In 2025; Deceased Donor Transplants Reach 3,526

Q. What is Sir Ganga Ram Hospital doing to advance xenotransplantation in India?

Dr. Tripathi: The aim is to carry out the first procedure with scientific support and within the necessary legal and ethical framework.

The team is prepared to move forward once the required guidelines are established and government permission is granted.

Q. How soon could India perform its first xenotransplant, and which type of transplant might reach clinical practice first?

Dr. Tripathi: I believe pancreatic islet-cell xenotransplantation could reach clinical practice before whole-organ transplantation.

Islet cells in the pancreas produce insulin, making them a potential area of research for conditions such as type 1 diabetes.

“It’s my scientific belief that islet-cell xenotransplantation would be the first one to hit the clinics,” he said.

As for India’s first xenotransplant, the timeline depends on government approval. “Potentially, six months from the day of the permission, we can perform the first transplant,” he said.

Q. What scientific, regulatory and biosecurity hurdles must India overcome before its first xenotransplant, and what lessons does the 1997 pig-organ transplant case involving Dr. Dhaniram Baruah in Assam offer today?

Dr. Tripathi: India’s first xenotransplant will have scientific, legal and ethical backing, along with patient consent. He said there was no comparison with the 1997 case involving Dr. Dhaniram Baruah in Assam, in which the patient died seven days after the procedure following multiple infections.

“We will not take a single step out of the legal ambit or the ethical ambit,” he said.

Q. Looking ahead five years, could India become a global leader in xenotransplantation?

Dr. Tripathi: India could play a leading international role. “India will be one of the leaders,” he said.

India can also establish its own xenorgan facilities over the next five to eight years. Until then, transporting organs from overseas companies could be an option, provided a secure transportation system is established in coordination with government authorities.

Mostly experienced by women, sexual objectification is a dehumanising tendency that distorts perception of the opposite gender. So researchers from University of Exeter have attempted to curb through physical intervention.

A new study, published in journal Social Neuroscience, suggests that it may be possible to change how people perceive sexualised images of women, at least temporarily.

Researchers at the University of Exeter found that ten minutes of mild electrical stimulation to the scalp could remove bias linked to sexual objectification of women.

It improved participants’ ability to recognise upright images of sexualised female models. It also removed the difference in the way such images of women and men were processed by the participants. Researchers associated that visual pattern with sexual objectification.

“Sexual objectification means treating a person as a body to be looked at or used, rather than as a whole person. It’s dehumanising and most often experienced by women,” said Professor Ciro Civile, author who led the research.

How Did the Experiment Work?

The study included 76 students, including 54 women and 22 men. Participants were asked to memorise photographs of male and female models wearing underwear in sexualised poses. The images were presented both upright and upside down.

They were subsequently shown a mixture of previously seen and new images and asked to identify the models they recognised.

Half the participants received ten minutes of mild electrical stimulation through two electrodes placed on the scalp. The other half received a sham treatment involving just 30 seconds of stimulation. Neither the participants nor the experimenters knew who had received the active stimulation.

The technique, called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), uses a weak electrical current to influence brain activity. Participants generally experienced a mild sensation like tingling.

Also read: Experimental Male Contraceptive Pill May Immobilise Sperm, Work Within 30 Minutes & Give Protection For 8 Hours

Results After Brain Stimulation

People typically recognise faces and bodies more easily when they are upright than when they are upside down. This is called the inversion effect. It reflects the brain’s ability to process a person as a whole, rather than as a collection of separate features.

Previous research has found that this upright recognition feature is smaller for sexualised images of women than for images of men. Researchers interpret this difference as a sign that sexualised female bodies are being processed more like objects.

In the new study, participants who received the sham treatment showed this pattern. Those who received active stimulation, however, became better at recognising upright images of women, and there was no significant difference between the processing of male and female images.

Civile said, “Our findings are initial evidence that the way our visual system processes sexualised images of women can be changed, at least temporarily, by mildly stimulating the brain.”

He added, “This was a lab study – we didn’t measure attitudes or behaviour, and brain stimulation is no cure for sexism – but it gives us a new way to study how objectification works.”

Also read: Can Mental Health Improvement Help Lower High Blood Pressure? Study Points Towards 3 Habits

Can Electrical Stimulation Reduce Sexism?

The experiment basically measured performance on a specific visual-recognition task, not participants’ beliefs, behaviour or their outlook on women.

The researchers also tested recognition during stimulation or immediately afterwards. They did not identify how long the change lasted or whether the findings would apply outside the laboratory.

The sample was also small and consisted entirely of university students, so further research is needed to test the findings in bigger sample sizes

Sexual objectification is behind various harmful outcomes, including body shame, anxiety, eating disorders and greater tolerance of sexual harassment. Understanding how objectifying perceptions arise may help researchers investigate ways to address these sexist biases.