Adults with type 2 diabetes experience slower mental processing as early as 55 years of age, finds a study reported in the January issue of Neuropsychology. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada compared 41 adults with type 2 diabetes with 424 healthy controls. The participants were 53 to 90 years old. Diabetes patients performed worse in two particular domains-executive functioning and speed, whereas memory, verbal fluency, and reaction time didn't differ between the groups. People with diabetes who were younger than 70 performed as poorly as those older than 70, suggesting that diabetes-linked cognitive defects start early and persist into old age.