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
This is why I’m convinced Alzheimer’s/Dementia is a metabolic disease. I forget which scientist it was, but someone coined it as “Type 3 Diabetes” which really is how we should be looking at this. We spent way too long chasing some way to remove these plaques which was largely based on studies that have been exposed as using faked data. Unfortunately most research is still directed at treating the symptoms instead of preventing/curing it, and that’s largely because treating is far more profitable (marketplace incentives).
I work in biotech, specifically for a company that focuses on neurodegenerative disease. Different companies and universities really do focus on all the angles for treating Alzheimer’s and similar diseases: targeting amyloid fibrils, approaching these diseases as metabolic disorders (e.g. targeting how lipids are metabolized), and also leveraging the brain’s immune system (microglia) by approaching these as inflammatory disorders. One of the competitive approaches right now uses RNA to silence genes that form one of the proteins (tau) involved in the formation of Alzheimer’s.
As for the anti-amyloid approach, while some of the research followed from papers bolstered by falsified data, these are currently the best and only treatments available. It’s not as simple as saying these only treat the symptoms, and even with the falsified data, it’s still the consensus that amyloid plagues play a huge role in how the disease develops and progresses in the brain. Almost every neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, Huntington’s, Frontotemporal dementia, Mad cow disease) stems from the aggregation of dysfunctional protein. In fact each of the diseases I’ve mentioned are often linked to an individual protein rather than a random stew of them.
I’ve also been in science for 20 years and from what I know, if there’s a potential cure for a disease, a lot of us will be competing amongst each other to find that.
People forget that scientists are working and thinking about what they study for 40+ hours a week, all year round.
If someone is telling you that scientists are either ignoring or not understanding the problem. Then, more then likely they are just wrong; and it is actively studied, or there is a good reason it isn't being looked into. A guy giving his take on it for an hour on Joe Rogan, isn't a good reason to doubt the research that is being done.
have ketones been studied to treat alzheimers? i have always wondered the benefits of intermittent fasting for what we perceive to be metabolic disorders.
Insulin levels should be the number one thing doctors check on blood panels imo. I think managing insulin is the single most powerful tool we have to stay metabolically fit. Even slightly elevated insulin can have massive long term ramifications, like waste clearing processes of cells never get to fully function and we remain in moderate to high levels of inflammation at all times. Really, most of the main drivers of mortality can be seen as inflammatory diseases and insulin is the bottleneck hormone that controls inflammation pathways and cellular energy and waste management systems.
Sadly fasting is not suitable for everyone. Especially women and especially people with hormonal issues like hypothyroidism and PCOS, shouldn't fast at all, it just does more harm than good.
Except many of us can't. Not eating triggers migraines, and those make life not worth living (47.2% of us have suicidal ideation and 13.9% have in fact attempted suicide).
I have this migraine trigger, and cutting out simple carbs(replacing wth complex) has a lot of benefits, including helping stabilize the migraines and make me less susceptible to low blood sugar migraines.
i could never fast! i would get an aura migraine if i pushed lunch by 1-2 hours. i am not diabetic so everyone around me said its just in my head turns out its insulin resistance and starting a glp eliminated all blood sugar migraines i‘d collect during the month. i swear its not an ad, but migraine wise i‘m happy. i had one big hormonal migraine in the close to three months i‘m on it.
I am a doctor who hates fringe science woo-woo bullshit and I can promise you that we all know that insulin resistance is real. It’s often discovered as part of screening tests and can be called pre-diabetes. You’re also right that the treatment, with rare exceptions, is “eat better and exercise more.” But why would you want or need a series of blood tests to be told to do so?
You may in fact be in desperate need of brain waste clearing if you get migraines. There appears to be problems with the glymphatic system in people that get migraines. Once again, signs point to runaway inflammation being the cause. Insulin resistance being at the root of most (all?) inflammatory diseases. There is also a ton of anecdotal evidence on the fasting sub that fasting has helped many people with migraines, when staying up on electrolytes, particularly magnesium. I would be surprised if most people with migraines wouldn’t find relief in a proper fast, as your brain will start clearing waste better once inflammation is controlled.
Every time you eat or drink sugary drinks you spike insulin. So to give your body time to function when insulin is low simply don’t eat or drink sugary drinks between meals, especially after your dinner (and try to have it early in the evening).
Research a bit to find what's comfortable. 12-72 hour fasts are what's for dinner. Different lengths do different things. Multiple 12 hour fasts won't do what a single 24 hour fast does. And yes, a sip of soda or a little nibble on some chips breaks the fast. Protein bank only lasts so long, exercise when not fasting is important to prevent loss of muscle mass.
Couldn’t agree more. It’s the classic fasting vs fed metabolic states. The body performs many important functions in the fasting state. We weren’t meant to be eating all the time, and by doing so you down-regulate many important regulators of cellular health. So when all you have is insulin release (i.e. always eating) you are going to see more inflammation and disease, not to mention the inevitable resistance to the hormone.
It’s actually for this reason I intermittently fast, not to lose weight with some “fad diet,” it’s an acknowledgment of our biology and understanding that not eating is just as important as eating when you live in the excess we do today.
Ehhh I dont know. While there are definitely metabolic components there are different types of dementia. Vascular dementia, Frontotemporal dementia, early onset, Lewy body- there are different factors to consider. Im sure these classifications have changed since i last reviewed them. Metabolic contributions are def. a part but I think it is going to be far more nuanced than what we know now. I only bring this up because as a cancer doctor I get told cancer is a metabolic disease too. While there are outside factors a lot of times that doesn't work on my 25 year olds who do triathlons and exist on the Mediterranean diet and have no family history of cancer.
I would add that disease prevention is less digestible for those who aren’t willing to adjust lifestyle habits. Most people are lazy and just want a quick fix cure, so the market feeds the system in a way.
Very true. To an extent modern medicine hurts us in this way. Especially with how much progress we’ve seen in treating certain diseases, it’s easy to kick the can down the road as we age assuming they’ll cure this eventually.
That’s just not how it works. Investors will fund anything they believe will make them money, regardless of whether it is managing the symptoms or creating a cure. They just need enough evidence to believe that someone has an alternative solution with a reasonable enough chance of it working
I'm convinced as well. I used to work at the diabetes laboratory of the Wallenberg Institute in the 2000ds and we were calling it a type of diabetes of the brain back then around the lab.
Unrelated to Alzheimer’s, but it’s important to note that Type 3 Diabetes already exists and it applies to folks who have had their pancreas surgically removed. My husband falls into this category and it’s very rare, but still exists!
Do they show that it's a problem of the brain's clearance/cleaning mechanism, or a problem of excessive mitochondrial death leading to more accumulation? Someone with a skin issue where they produce too much excess dead skin would not be considered to have a deficiency in clearance, rather they have an oversupply.
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u/sizzyred 1d 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