[DoreenMichele]

It is well known that people with schizophrenia are three times more likely to develop diabetes.

Well. That's significant.

Diabetes is linked to inflammation. So are a lot of brain issues.

I actually came here to note that the brain is 60% fat, so it seems reasonable to assume that the amount and kind of dietary fat would matter a while lot for a wide variety of brain related issues.

[perl4ever]

Popular antipsychotics cause weight gain and eventual diabetes. I don't think that's obscure or controversial, so it seems weird to say "people with schizophrenia are three times more likely to develop diabetes" out of context. Like, are we talking about a large population of untreated people?

[DoreenMichele]

A longer outtake from the paragraph I was quoting:

It is well known that people with schizophrenia are three times more likely to develop diabetes. A common debate in the field is whether the antipsychotic medications, which are known to cause weight gain and diabetes, are to blame. Recent research suggests that this is not the entire explanation. Even people newly diagnosed with schizophrenia appear to already have insulin resistance, even though most don’t yet have diabetes. This means that their brains may not be getting enough energy from glucose. Other brain studies have found metabolic abnormalities, such as higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation as well.

[perl4ever]

Maybe chronic inflammation causes diabetes.

Recently, it's been observed that the rate of new diabetes cases is declining, while obesity keeps going up. Nobody knows what's going on, even though we are bombarded with theories.

I remember (I think) reading a long time ago about how someone had linked insulin resistance to pain nerves (or maybe taste nerves, I forget) found in the pancreas - even though you don't perceive with them consciously. I wonder if anything came of that research.

[DoreenMichele]

Maybe chronic inflammation causes diabetes.

I doubt that it's that straight forward. Inflammation is associated with both chemical derangement and infection. Probably other things as well, like allergic reactions.

Insulin resistance has also been linked to inadequate muscle mass more strongly than to excess fat per se.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8748147