Finally time to dump the amyloid hypothesis completely?

As we describe in Beating the Dementia Monster, it was Alois Alzheimer who first saw amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain of a deceased seamstress and hausfrau, Auguste Deter.  Since then, our focus on trying to understand the disease has been on the phenomenon of these two markers.  The conventional wisdom has been that if we can just control them, we will be controlling the disease.  If we can get rid of the amyloid plaques, we can control the disease.  If we can stop the generation of the tangles, we can control the disease.

But our experience has now shown that if we get rid of the plaques, we have neither stopped the disease nor cured it.  Yes, we can (apparently) slow it down with Aducanumab and Leqembi, but it will still get you in the end.

As we said in Beating the Dementia Monster, maybe the amyloid plaques actually have a purpose, and trying to get rid of them is the wrong thing to do.  We noted some experts believe the plaques are actually there to protect brain cells from microbes and toxins, such as p. gingivalis, the bacteria that causes gum disease.  Some researchers have been pursuing this hypothesis, but they haven't been getting headlines the way the more easily grasped amyloid narrative has.

One of the more popular and productive health YouTubers is Dr. Eric Berg.  He's a chiropractor who is very big on keto diets and intermittent fasting.  He takes sometimes serious heat from critics about the accuracy of some of the things he says on his videos, but he has a lot of followers and material.  I don't search out his viewpoint on health matters, and I take what he says with the proverbial grain of salt.  But the YouTube algorithm seems to think I should be watching all of his stuff.

Regardless of other baggage, I thought a new video captures some important elements of the shifting landscape of Alzheimer's research.  It fits with authoritative information that I've seen elsewhere and that we provided in Beating the Dementia Monster.  The video is here.

In the video, Berg explains what's wrong with the amyloid hypothesis and gives a rationale for how lifestyle changes can prevent or stall Alzheimer's disease.  He likens treating amyloid plaques to trying to put out a forest fire by putting out the match that started it.  In his discussion, he had a novel way of describing the brain's unique immune system which is separate from the system that serves the rest of the body.

One thing that disturbed me was a blanket conclusion that people with Alzheimer's disease should begin a radical daily fast, eating only one meal a day.  As we discussed before, intermittent fasting is not recommended for the elderly.  If you are older and you want to fast, talk to your health care provider first!