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What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

quantamagazine.org

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Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#41

Post by simmerup »

tiffanyh wrote: post #26
kyaghmour wrote: post #12

As someone who has a close relative diagnosed with this disease, I'm always on the lookout for new information. So this is interesting. One area I'm particularly interested in is the correlation to diabetes. It's a factor that I found being mentioned here and there in some references. In the immediate case that interests me, there's a 20+ year history of type 2 diabetes and a recent scan showed severe bilateral hypoc…

> One area I'm particularly interested in is the correlation to diabetes. Sugar. I think the correlation is more so to sugar. I too had a loved one with Alzheimer’s, and there was definitely strong reason to believe sugar was a contributing factor.

The excess of sugar in our diets and the inflammation it can cause is linked to so many diseases. I'm not surprised to hear Alzheimers is one of them.

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#42

Post by simmerup »

cactusplant7374 wrote: post #37
tiffanyh wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One area I'm particularly interested in is the correlation to diabetes. Sugar. I think the correlation is more so to sugar. I too had a loved one with Alzheimer’s, and there was definitely strong reason to believe sugar was a contributing factor.

I consume a lot of sugar. I’m not diabetic or pre diabetic. I would suspect underlying inflammation leads to some nasty effects. The same for heart disease.

Are you balding?

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#43

Post by kyaghmour »

eirikurh wrote: post #36
kyaghmour wrote: post #12

As someone who has a close relative diagnosed with this disease, I'm always on the lookout for new information. So this is interesting. One area I'm particularly interested in is the correlation to diabetes. It's a factor that I found being mentioned here and there in some references. In the immediate case that interests me, there's a 20+ year history of type 2 diabetes and a recent scan showed severe bilateral hypoc…

From the article: "A report in the July 2020 issue of The Lancet listed the variety of known risk factors for dementia, ranging from air pollution to repetitive head trauma to systemic infections." The article doesn't mention diabetes or sugar.

I'm aware that the parent article doesn't refer to diabetes. I never said it did. As a general comment regarding this disease I shared what my current state of mind on this was. Is there a link between diabetes and the mechanism explored in the parent, maybe? I don't know. But maybe, just maybe, if enough paths are explored we'll eventually find the right one. Diabetes seems to be an interesting one for me ... but I'm by no means an expert. Just an interested observer that is doing a genuine effort to understand.

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#44

Post by DoreenMichele »

eirikurh wrote: post #36
kyaghmour wrote: post #12

As someone who has a close relative diagnosed with this disease, I'm always on the lookout for new information. So this is interesting. One area I'm particularly interested in is the correlation to diabetes. It's a factor that I found being mentioned here and there in some references. In the immediate case that interests me, there's a 20+ year history of type 2 diabetes and a recent scan showed severe bilateral hypoc…

From the article: "A report in the July 2020 issue of The Lancet listed the variety of known risk factors for dementia, ranging from air pollution to repetitive head trauma to systemic infections." The article doesn't mention diabetes or sugar.

There’s a strong correlation between Alzheimer’s disease and high blood sugar levels.

https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-dementia-diab...

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#45

Post by manmal »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #32

The brain "takes out the trash" when you sleep.* From what I have read, the accumulation of both amyloid beta and tau are linked to sleep deprivation. They may be markers of sleep deprivation and treating the sleep deprivation may be the best thing to do, though that probably won't get someone famous for some billion dollar drug discovery, so no one will likely pursue it. (Yes, I am aware that some of the research is…

Disturbed sleep should IMO also be looked at - eg UARS and sleep apnea. You can sleep 8h every night and still feel crappy waking up. Maybe disturbed sleep is even worse than lack of sleep? I can feel better after 6h of good sleep than after 9h of disrupted sleep (eg when I know I‘ve been snoring, eg due to throat infection).

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#46

Post by DoreenMichele »

manmal wrote: post #45
DoreenMichele wrote: post #32

The brain "takes out the trash" when you sleep.* From what I have read, the accumulation of both amyloid beta and tau are linked to sleep deprivation. They may be markers of sleep deprivation and treating the sleep deprivation may be the best thing to do, though that probably won't get someone famous for some billion dollar drug discovery, so no one will likely pursue it. (Yes, I am aware that some of the research is…

Disturbed sleep should IMO also be looked at - eg UARS and sleep apnea. You can sleep 8h every night and still feel crappy waking up. Maybe disturbed sleep is even worse than lack of sleep? I can feel better after 6h of good sleep than after 9h of disrupted sleep (eg when I know I‘ve been snoring, eg due to throat infection).

To my mind, they are both a form of sleep deprivation. I would say that sleeping poorly, no matter how long you lay there, still constitutes sleep deprivation.

And as people get older, they tend to both sleep less and also sleep less deeply.

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#47

Post by jprd »

dang wrote: post #27

There are too many Alzheimer's threads to list but these seem to be the ones related to the amyloid hypothesis: Decreased proteins, not amyloid plaques, tied to Alzheimer's disease - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33096228 - Oct 2022 (3 comments) A Positive Amyloid Trial, Finally? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33010078 - Sept 2022 (49 comments) Faked Beta-Amyloid Data. What Does It Mean? - https://news…

dang - you are an Internet Treasure.

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#48

Post by tsol »

torben-friis wrote: post #29

Has anyone noticed that Alzheimer’s research tend to hit the front page much more than other medical news? I’ve been wondering why for a while.

HN workers probably tend to be highly educated and the idea of slowly sinking into dementia is especially terrifying for them. The whole amyloid hypothesis has been debated for decades as well, so by now a lot of people are more familiar with alzheimers research vs others

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#49

Post by hollerith »

mongol wrote: post #40
pvaldes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is one of the five or six big medical problems of our time.

You are probably right. How would a list look like? In no particular order, perhaps: Cancer ALS Alzheimer Diabetes Covid AIDS ?

You left out the biggest killer: heart disease.

Re: What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer

#50

Post by lalalandland »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #32

The brain "takes out the trash" when you sleep.* From what I have read, the accumulation of both amyloid beta and tau are linked to sleep deprivation. They may be markers of sleep deprivation and treating the sleep deprivation may be the best thing to do, though that probably won't get someone famous for some billion dollar drug discovery, so no one will likely pursue it. (Yes, I am aware that some of the research is…

I read a few years back about a new discovery of lymphatic system connecting to the brain. Small lymphatic veins help clean out these substances, especially during the night. One doctor cured his wife from MS using vein balloons like they use in heart conditions on these veins. I can't verify if this was real of fraudulent information.
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