One thing people don't really seem to realize is that Alzheimer's disease is relatively new.
Alzheimer’s wasn’t even clinically defined until 1906. Disease that were more common (like smallbox, for instance) were described in excruciating detail by historians. Before 1906 there was something known as "senile dementia", which was estimated at less than 5% of those over 85.
Around between 1970 and 2000, prevalence rose to 25% to 35% of those over 85 years old.
The projections are that within 25 years, unless there's significant breakthroughs, about half of people over 85 will have Alzheimers. But with the way the incidence of this condition is growing, I would say the above estimate is optimistic.
How do you avoid this sad, debilitating, very expensive disorder?
Eat less sugar and carbs. That's it. Go on a low-carb, keto, or carnivore diet.
Sugar and carbs are VERY strongly implicated in Alzheimer's (and of course many other diseases like heart disease, diabetes, etc).
Here's a good article:
Atlantic Magazine: The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer's
https://archive.vn/U33Qv
https://www.theatlantic.cotm/health/archive/2018/01/the-startling-link-between-sugar-and-alzheimers/551528/
Interesting, because I recall research showing a causal link with protein consumption (recent example) and something specifically linking Alzheimer's to animal protein consumption.
Dietary prognostications are a minefield- for every viewpoint there is an equal and opposite one!
Do agree however processed sugar is a risk while also suspect that natural whole foods are less of a risk than highly processed 'junk' foods.
Enjoy growing as much of my food as possible.
I don't think that the study you mentioned (with a mouse model) is as good as some of the other studies that are coming out, with people. Often they're directly track older people that consume more sugar, vs older people that consumer less sugar, and find a strong association between sugar consumption and Alzheimer's.
For instance: Sugar in Beverage and the Risk of Incident Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and Stroke: A Prospective Cohort Study
And this: Associations of sugar intake, high-sugar dietary pattern, and the risk of dementia
Also there's a really strong link between diabetes (with elevated blood glucose) and Alzheimers, I believe the risk more than doubles.
Granted, these kinds of associative studies are not the gold standard, either. Ideally you'd have one group of people on a high sugar diet, and another on a zero sugar diet. But you'd never get that kind of study approved.
Yeah, the study I linked to just happened to be the first one that came up. I'm extremely skeptical of nutrition research for a couple of reasons:
Even the link between sugar and diabetes is becoming more suspect.
My view is just that people are eating hyper-novel diets, whether that's high carb or high protein, and it's resulting in novel health problems. We're also just living longer than our ancestors, so lots of stuff is going wrong that natural selection never had a chance to iron out.
Cool thanks for sharing. Runs in my family, but so does American sugar and carbs…
This explains why Alzheimer is also recognised as type 3 diabetes!
doctors might test the patients for Alzheimer's by asking them where they last saw their keys,
but almost no one bothers to ask how clean is the patient's air, water, food, light sources, and information;
does anyone here really think it's as simple as going keto?!