Diabetes linked to poor impulse control

Fri, 12 Feb 2010
A research team in Japan has found that type 2 diabetes is linked to poor control of impulses. The diabetes experts from Waseda University, Japan, found that neurological changes can affect the ability to resist temptation, which can make diabetes worse.

The team was led by Hiroaki Kumano who worked with 27 patients with type 2 diabetes and 27 healthy control subjects. Kumano reportedly commented: "Patients with type 2 diabetes are required to make strict daily decisions; for example, they should resist the temptation of high-fat, high-calorie food, which is frequently cued by specific people, places and events. Appropriate behaviour modification thus depends on the patient's ability to inhibit impulsive thoughts and actions cued by these environmental stimuli."

The researchers measured the ability of patients to quickly press buttons in response to signals from computer screens. Patients with diabetes were found to perform significantly worse at the test, and struggled to control the impulse to press the button. Kumano reportedly concluded: "This suggests the possibility that the neuropsychological deficits in response inhibition may contribute to the behavioural problems leading to chronic lifestyle-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes ."

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