Insulin Nasal Spray Trial Improves Alzheimer's Symptoms

Physicians at Health Partners in Minnesota's Twin Cities are increasingly positive about a nasal spray undergoing clinical trials, which they say is improving memory loss among people with Alzheimer's, reports CBS Minnesota . Researchers at the Health Partners Neuroscience Center have been exploring insulin's effects on the brain, which is greatly reduced in people with Alzheimer's. "Not unlike a diabetic where you don't have enough insulin in the body, insulin allows the sugar to go into the cell and that creates energy. And your cells need energy to do their jobs," said Health Partners' Leah Hanson. The doctors think Alzheimer's drugs can become less effective when digested or injected into the blood stream, so the nasal spray dispatches insulin directly through the nose and into cells that link to the brain. "Once in the left, once in the right — twice a day," Hanson noted. "Within 15 minutes of one spray of insulin in the nose, they saw an improved ability to remember words and remember stories."