Diabetic hypertriglyceridaemia and Alzheimer's disease: causal or not?

To summarize recent findings considering type II diabetes, or metabolic syndrome dyslipidaemia with risk for Alzheimer's disease.Population, genetic, clinical and preclinical studies support the hypothesis of increased risk for Alzheimer's disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus. The mechanisms are unclear. However, recent studies suggest that aberrations in the peripheral metabolism of triglyceride-rich-lipoproteins compromise the brain microvasculature.We review the literature of prediabetic metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. We focus on a potential association with aberrations in the systemic metabolism of triglyceride-rich-lipoproteins reported over 18 months.