Researchers continue to quantify the level of risk linking diabetes and Alzheimer's: "failure of diabetic patients to maintain control of their blood-sugar levels increased their risk of developing dementia 10 years down the road by as much as 78 percent ... Glycosated hemoglobin - known as HbA1c - kept under 10 percent in the blood appeared to be the point where the likelihood of developing dementia begins ... [another study] described how patients with borderline diabetes were 67 percent more likely to develop dementia nine years after diagnosis and were 77 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease after nine years." Diabetes appears to be a condition most people could avoid; if you let your metabolism and lifestyle slide into causing more cellular damage, it shouldn't be a surprise that you suffer more rapid and greater age-related degeneration.
Link: http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20060716-053149-3155r