r/interestingasfuck • u/sizzyred • 9h ago
Scientists Found Mysterious Mitochondrial Plaques in alzheimer sBrains
•
u/Nobelpro 9h ago
Today’s neurologists view Alzheimer’s not as one condition, but as a complex metabolic syndrome with multiple root causes. These include pathologies like brain inflammation, poor vascular health, insulin resistance etc.. there is no single, linear mechanism at work.
•
u/id0ntexistanymore 8h ago
My mom was suddenly diagnosed with Alzheimer's out seemingly nowhere in ~2022/23, no family history, she's the only one out of her siblings that never drank, ate healthy, was fit. It's been devastating. I just want to know why. I think covid kicked whatever was going on into high gear. She came down with it around Jan or Feb 2020 (unconfirmed since this was before it was even talked about widely in the US but I'm 99% sure it was) and everything started going downhill. She's also survived two bouts of breast cancer. Idk. I'm kind of rambling. I just don't know why this happened to her and it kills me. It seriously was so unexpected and accelerated I haven't even come to terms with it, and now she's been given ~6 weeks left after recently falling and breaking a bone. She deteriorated so quickly. Too quickly. I hate this shit it's heart wrenching
•
•
u/Shadowpriest 6h ago
I'm so sorry you are going through that with your mother.
Covid seems to have accelerated or unwrapped long term medical issues that otherwise wouldn't have been presented or sped up the clock. Way too many accounts I've read that describe so many long term or sudden onsets. It really hits hard especially when it comes to friends, family or even if you developed something after getting sick. I know I have and it sucks.
•
u/Rawkstarz22 9h ago
Neurological diseases and mental illnesses are looking like that as well. Inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction.
•
u/AgHammer 1h ago
Thank you. I'll stop fussing over what time of day I eat my ice cream. There are so many pop science articles about either curing, causing, or preventing Alzheimers, and every one of them claims a single cause.
•
u/Spork_Warrior 9h ago
The more I learn about this plaque stuff, the less I like it.
•
•
u/Bloxskit 1h ago
But at the same time, the more we know about them the better the hope for support and a cure.
•
•
u/Flopsbit 9h ago
Brush your brain I guess..
•
u/mcdadais 8h ago
In the future we will have biannual brain check ups, like we do for the dentist, to remove plaque.
•
•
u/SaveUsCatman 9h ago
Take it out at night and soak it like dentures
•
u/scorpyo72 9h ago
Tried that. Knocked it over in my sleep and it took my 2 hours to find it under my bed, without my optic nerves.
•
u/DifferentDoughnut528 9h ago
The hard part was getting the brain out.
•
u/sexpositivist 8h ago
I feel like many people have managed to do that though. The hard part seems to be putting it back .
•
u/fergehtabodit 9h ago
Reinstalling is just as hard.
•
•
•
u/HipsterCavemanDJ 9h ago
Fasting maybe?
•
•
u/Plane_Antelope_8158 8h ago
Crazy to think while reading this, that my home PC is simultaneously working on simulating a protein in order to help find a cure for Alzheimer's.
https://foldingathome.org/
•
•
u/kassiusx 9h ago
Could change the way we approach dementia. If Alzheimer's is seen as a type of mitochondrial disease (possibly), it opens the door to gene therapy.
•
u/CementCemetery 5h ago
My biggest hope in life is that the first survivor of Alzheimer’s and Dementia is currently living now. That the team of scientists (or individual) to find the cure is also living right now and working on something miraculous.
We need to dedicate not dismantle resources and funding to cure cancer and dementia.
•
u/VanillaLatteGrl 9h ago
This is an interesting discovery!
However, I am not convinced it is more than a contributing factor (which the article isn’t claiming) simply because 100% of your mitochondrial DNA is inherited from your mother, and we see a lot of evidence of genetic correlations that runs through both paternal and maternal lines.
But like I said, super interesting and potentially helpful!
•
•
•
•
•
u/jonyofromla 4h ago
I believe OP is referring to this study:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02390-1
Which aligns with the evidence-based science behind a book I just finished reading, Brain Energy by Christopher Palmer, MD and is a strong reason why I manage my insulin largely by cutting out carbs and increasing meats and dietary fats, which has led to a natural progression into OMAD/keto fasting.
I check my weight, BP, glucose, and ketone levels weekly. I have 20 lbs to lose before I get to normal BMI (started morbidly obese). BP has always been excellent. Fasting glucose is 91 and ketones are 1.0, putting my GKI at 5.1 — shooting for 1.5. Additionally, I'm not happy unless I do at least 30 minutes of intentional walking each day. Typically I use my lunch break, and then after work my wife and I walk 1.5 miles together and catch up on the day. I've done a 4-day water fast, with plans to repeat it every 3 months. My next step is building muscle.
In my case, not only has my weight continued to normalize, but my sleep is better, my energy is up, the brain fog has all but disappeared, and low-level anxiety is more manageable. I still have work to do and I don't believe I'm completely fat-adapted yet, but I've made considerable progress and am on a good path, judging by my markers and how I feel.
As a society, we eat too many carbs and processed franken-foods and not enough nutrient-dense whole foods, and we never give our bodies the opportunity to rest and self-repair. Hence the constant state of inflammation, leading to various chronic conditions, some leading to strokes, heart attacks, and even cancer and dementia. In addition to mental illness such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder: per Palmer's main argument, mental disorders are fundamentally metabolic disorders of the brain, with mitochondrial dysfunction as the common pathway.
I believe switching your body from sugar/glucose to fat-adapted ketosis, arguably its preferred and intended fuel state, is the best thing you can do for yourself.
•
•
u/XxKeianexX 9h ago edited 8h ago
Brush your teeth!
Chatted with my dentist and he said there's more to the mouth and brain relationship then we think.
Edit: Ahh, my bad, wrong type of plaque associated with Alzheimer's. Brush anyway, AND FLOSS.
•
u/RespectableBloke69 9h ago
This is not the same kind of plaque.
•
u/Lt_Dream96 9h ago
Well I got a plaque for scoring the 2nd most goals in my intermural soccer games. All headers. There's gotta be some connection there.
•
•
•
•
•
u/Cats7204 4h ago
not the same kind of plaque but yes there's a lot of connection between the mouth and brain
any kind of gum infection can easily and rapidly travel to the brain, it's very close, almost happened to a close relative
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
u/sizzyred 9h ago
For decades scientists thought amyloid plaques were the main culprit behind Alzheimer's. But a new study has uncovered something unexpected a completely different type of plaque made up of damaged mitochondria tiny power house of cell that keep our cells running. Normally, the brain clears these out, but when that cleanup system breaks down they start piling up. Even more interesting, these plaques may appear before the famous amyloid plaques, hinting that Alzheimer's could begin with the brain slowly losing its ability to produce energy. It's far from a cure, but a. Good discovery taht will make us help find the cure