More Stories in the News

Back on August 25, we posted about stories in the news regarding Alzheimer’s and brain science that had caught my attention. Since then, a few more stories have popped up. Several involved early detection of AD. Here’s what I’ve seen: 

1. While “neural plasticity,” the ability of the brain to constantly break and reconnect pathways in the brain, is an important feature of how a healthy brain functions, this process may go to excess in persons developing Alzheimer’s. Higher flexibility in the networks involved with vision may turn out to be a new biomarker for diagnosing the disease. Here’s an article about it. 

2. Another one bites the dust: A phase 1 study of another anti-amyloid beta antibody developed by a company named Prothena found an unacceptably high rate of brain swelling. The treatment candidate was named PRX012. Brain swelling is a significant side effect for all of the monoclonal antibody treatments, like Aduhelm and Leqembi. Here’s an article about PRX012. 

3. If you successfully completed 10th grade biology, you know that adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, facilitates the transfer of energy in the cell. (Of course you do.) In so doing, the ATP molecule loses a phosphate group that must be restored. It’s the job of another molecule called creatinine to take care of that. For some time, creatinine supplements have been sold to help facilitate physical exercise by supporting the transfer of energy in muscles. But, if you read Beating the Dementia Monster and this blog, you know that the brain uses a LOT of energy itself, and creatinine plays a role there too. New research found that creatinine supplementation in older adults (like me) appears to support healthy brain functioning. So my wife and I take 5-gram creatinine gummies once a day. Here’s an article about it. 

4. A recent study found that the lower concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in women may help explain why women are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. This might be remedied by women consuming more foods and supplements with omega-3s. (For example, by eating more salmon.) While we know that beta amyloid plaques and tau tangles characteristically appear in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, Alois Alzheimer also identified the presence of lipid (fat) droplets in the brain. Failure to move the fats out of the cells may be a part of AD pathology, and it may be we haven’t been paying enough attention to this. And it may be that a poor balance between LDL and HDL cholesterol is inhibiting the proper metabolism of these fats, causing them to accumulate. (Cholesterol has an important role in fat metabolism.) This appears to be more the case with women, and some believe it might explain why women are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Part of the equation is the omega-3 fatty acids found in, for example, some fish oils. The recommendation would be to ensure you are consuming enough omega-3 fatty acids, especially if you are a woman. Here’s an article about it. 

5. Is Alzheimer's an autoimmune disease?  We knew that changes in sense of smell can suggest the onset of Alzheimer’s. But why? In Beating the Dementia Monster, we discussed the microglia, cells that form part of the unique immune system in the brain and how they may play a role in Alzheimer’s. Recent research suggests that a loss of control of the immune process causes the microglia to incorrectly identify olfactory nerves and attack them. This would occur in the context of the development of the disease. Hence to correlation between loss of smell and the appearance of the disease. Here’s an article about it. 

6. As we’ve discussed before, there is ample evidence associating vitamin D supplementation with brain health. It’s not just about strong bones. But why? Some recent research correlates adequate vitamin D with the preservation of telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes. They get shorter with age, which makes us more vulnerable to the diseases of old age – like cancer and Alzheimer’s. Vitamin D consumption, whether in the MIND diet or with supplements, protects the telomeres that protect us. Here’s an article about it. 

7. New research reinforces our understanding of the role that problems in the gut might play in influencing the development of Alzheimer’s. The answer is, of course, a high-fiber diet – which is the answer to a lot of problems in the gut. Apparently, immune cells in an unhealthy gut can travel to the periphery of the brain and contribute to the development of the disease. At least in mice. While this finding reinforces our existing observation that a high-fiber diet is essential to brain health, it opens to door to more possibilities in how to understand and treat the disease. Here’s an article about it. 

8. There’s a new three-minute brain wave test that, so far, appears to be very good at diagnosing Alzheimer’s. It’s called the Fastball EEG. Apparently, it’s more reliable than the hours of testing I was subject to when I was diagnosed. Basically, the subject learns a set of eight pictures. Then, he or she is shown a blast of pictures at a rate of three per second. One in five of these is one of the eight pictures the subject learned previously. The EEG then registers the reaction the brain has to what it sees. This is pretty interesting, but, for ease of administration, it’ll come in second to the new blood tests we’ve discussed previously, and it may be no more accurate. Here’s an article about it.  My sense is that this test might be good at recognizing hippocampus damage caused by Alzheimer's, but it doesn't probe the other parts of the brain which may be failing due to other diseases and disorders.

This isn't all.  More next time.