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Suzanne de la Monte, a neuropathologist at Brown University, has been working on these phenomena in humans and rats. When she blocked the path of insulin to rats' brains, their neurons deteriorated, they became physically disoriented and their brains showed all the signs of Alzheimer's. The fact that Alzheimer's can be associated with low levels of insulin in the brain is the reason why increasing numbers of researchers have taken to calling it Type 3 diabetes, or diabetes of the brain.

[...] participants who received 40 IU of insulin detemir and who possessed APOE-e4 - a gene associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's - displayed higher scores on memory tests than participants who received the lower insulin detemir dose or the placebo. Participants who did not have the APOE-e4 gene had lower memory scores, regardless of whether they received a 20 or 40 IU dose of insulin detemir or the placebo.