Scientists have found that two worrisome diseases share key biological processes: Type 2 diabetes and dementia.

Recent findings are beginning to make scientists, hospital physicians, outsourced physicians , and emergency physicians think that similarities between these two diseases are more than just a coincidence, according to a recent healthcare article published in the “Los Angeles Times.”

The article explained that “the relationship between diabetes and dementia diseases drew headlines in September when a large study conducted in Japan reported that people with diabetes are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. The study, published in the journal Neurology, found that even people with impaired glucose tolerance — a level of poor glucose control that precedes diabetes — were 35% more likely to develop some type of dementia.”

“An estimated 1 in 10 cases of dementia may be attributable to diabetes, says neurologist Dr. Geert Jan Biessels of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and a leading researcher on the relationship between the two diseases. These disorders may contribute to dementia decades before symptoms such as memory loss occur. Thus, he says, treating diabetes and the risk factors associated with it — such as hypertension and high cholesterol — may help prevent many dementia cases,” as reported in “Los Angeles Times.”

Researchers are urging patient care providers to educate patients on the importance of controlling blood sugar now, before it is too late.