7 ms·

I had to triple check the date because I was pretty sure that this was known before. Maybe it is simply the confirmation aspect of it? Edit: > Our findings

I had to triple check the date because I was pretty sure that this was known before. Maybe it is simply the confirmation aspect of it? Edit: > Our findings reveal for the first time, that Alzheimer’s symptoms can be transferred to a healthy young organism via the gut microbiota, *confirming a causal role* of gut microbiota in Alzheimer’s disease ... From: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/kimgreen/bio/glucocorticoids-and-alzheimers-disease/ https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/kimgreen/bio/glucocorticoids-a... Citing many papers > One early event in AD is an increase in circulating glucocorticoids You could sum up Alzheimer's as: Diet/Lifestyle + a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome and you have increasing glucocorticoids which imply downregulation of the PVN, less progesterone and low levels of Prolactin reducing oligodendrocyte reducing myelin sheaths. Add in APOE e4 without choline in the diet and you have accumulation of lipids to round it all out. There is a reason why Omega 3 + B+D vitamins are talked about as preventative as they all reduce inflamation. See this for example: https://www.grassrootshealth.net/two-nutrients-proven-stop-brain-shrinking/ https://www.grassrootshealth.net/two-nutrients-proven-stop-b... Edit2: For the curious here is a larger brain dump on the topic with many more links when I had to untangle the pathway earlier this year while working on something else. https://www.reddit.com/r/DrWillPowers/comments/16ae4zy/alzheimers_and_meyerpowers_syndrome/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DrWillPowers/comments/16ae4zy/alzhe...

Beestie 3y ago
Japan researchers have know about this for years. I don't know if Japan makes a big deal about publishing their findings but I watched a documentary several years ago which that went into very specific detail about the relationship between specific gut bacteria and Alzheimers. No disrespect to King's College - perhaps there is no overlap but this is more of an advancement than it is a breakthrough.
pajep 3y ago
For those that are curious and not well verse in research level biology, what kind of food, drink and lifestyle will help maintain a gut biome that prevent Alzheimer
- chiefalchemist 3y ago
  The usual. The way we evolved: Avoid processed foods and move (i.e., exercise). Obviously, only take antibiotics when absolutely necessary.
  - WanderPanda 3y ago
    I should have discovered earlier in my life that prescribing antibiotics is the doctors equivalent of „you don‘t get fired for buying ibm“.
  - bagels 3y ago
    What does processed even mean? Unless I run out in the field and bite a cow, that meat is going to be processed. Likewise with potatoes, I'm going to be eating unpalatable starchy uncooked potatoes.
    - MrsPeaches 3y ago
      I found this list really helpful to understand: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_food https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_...
    - chiefalchemist 3y ago
      In 2023 it means... An apple...not processed. An ear of corn...not processed. Oatmeal...not processed. Frozen peas...not processed. Breakfast cereal...processed. Heat & serve meals in the frozen section...processed. Yogurt with fruit (and tons of sugar) pre-added...processed. Soft drinks...processed. Kid's "Happy Meal"...processed. And so on. Btw, Slaughtered and butchered meats !== processed meats. Recommened book: - Exercised - D Lieberman https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/29/exercised-by-daniel-lieberman-review-fitness-myths-exploded https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/29/exercised-by-d... - Burn - Pontzer https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/16/1016931725/study-of-hunter-gatherer-lifestyle-shows-why-crash-weight-loss-programs-dont-wor https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/16/1016931... - Comfort Crisis - M Easter - Scarcity Brain - M Easter https://eastermichael.com/ https://eastermichael.com/ Also recommended, the series "The Foods That Built America" on the History Channel. p.s. Again, key phrase "as we evolved". Last I checked archeologist aren't digging up McDonald's from eons ago.
m463 3y ago
sounds like prion disease: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion EDIT: in the sense that it is similar
noman-land 3y ago
"You could sum up Alzheimer's as: Diet/Lifestyle + a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome and you have increasing glucocorticoids which imply downregulation of the PVN, less progesterone and low levels of Prolactin reducing oligodendrocyte reducing myelin sheaths. Add in APOE e4 without choline in the diet and you have accumulation of lipids to round it all out." Can someone translate this into plain English?
- Aurornis 3y ago
  Unfortunately, the parent commenter is making huge leaps of logic and exaggerating the results of various studies. The Reddit source they linked to is from a telehealth medical provider who has invented a new condition and named it after himself. Skimming his writings gives strong pseudoscience / alternative medicine vibes. For example, Cushing's syndrome is a disorder of extreme excess cortisol. The incidence is estimated to be somewhere between 1 in 100,000 and 1 in 26,000. In other words, it's an extremely rare condition. Suggesting that a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome is behind Alzheimer's wouldn't make sense. There's a trend in alternative medicine to take a large collection of studies, reduce them to overly simplistic this-causes-that links, then to string them all together to generate misleading conclusions. In this case, the comment is trying to claim that lifestyle factors combined with an extremely rare 1-in-100,000 condition from birth results in a set of hormonal changes that lead to damage to the insulating layer around your nerves. It's extreme speculation, not indicative of the actual science. In general, be wary of anyone who claims to have solved complex medical conditions like Alzheimers that are still elusive to actual researchers. I hope it goes without saying that a random Hacker News commenter hasn't figured out what countless researchers have been working on for decades.
  - entwife 3y ago
    I agree with Auromis. The reported research is interesting, and yet is not yet ready for application to human health. It's tempting to leap to conclusions. The top poster takes this too far. I hope that NIH funds a lot more Alzheimer's research looking for microbial causes, and also, that the technology for understanding gut microbiome continues to develop.
  - 3y ago
gumby 3y ago
> You could sum up Alzheimer's as: Diet/Lifestyle + a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome and you have increasing glucocorticoids which imply downregulation of the PVN, Wit all else patients on GLP-1 agonists I wonder if the incidence of Alzheimer’s will decline? I wonder if Semaglutide reduces CRP? There are some preliminary indications that it may: https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-022-01585-7 https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-02...
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  Between weight loss, inhibiting addictive behavior, lowering the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, and potentially derisking for Alzheimer’s, we should be pumping GLP-1 agonists out like a wartime effort. Likely contributor to fixing 70+ years of socioeconomic configuration that gave us Western Disease and the trimmings that come with it. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-18/glp-1-drug-benefits-like-ozempic-go-beyond-weight-loss https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-18/glp-1-dru...
  - gumby 3y ago
    T will be interesting to see the side effects of chronic use of these compounds. Still too early to know.
corethree 3y ago
No way this was known before. There may be certain correlations but you have to realize this research effort is different. In controlled experiments if you as the experimenter can "cause" something to happen then you've skipped past the correlation != causation mantra that every Tom, Dick and Jane keeps chanting without fully understanding. At this point you've found causation. Causal evidence of Alzheimer's? I don't think that's ever been known. The worst case scenario after finding this is that they find out that there's multiple causative sources of Alzheimer's.

Beestie 3y ago

Japan researchers have know about this for years. I don't know if Japan makes a big deal about publishing their findings but I watched a documentary several years ago which that went into very specific detail about the relationship between specific gut bacteria and Alzheimers. No disrespect to King's College - perhaps there is no overlap but this is more of an advancement than it is a breakthrough.

pajep 3y ago

For those that are curious and not well verse in research level biology, what kind of food, drink and lifestyle will help maintain a gut biome that prevent Alzheimer

chiefalchemist 3y ago
The usual. The way we evolved: Avoid processed foods and move (i.e., exercise). Obviously, only take antibiotics when absolutely necessary.
- WanderPanda 3y ago
  I should have discovered earlier in my life that prescribing antibiotics is the doctors equivalent of „you don‘t get fired for buying ibm“.
- bagels 3y ago
  What does processed even mean? Unless I run out in the field and bite a cow, that meat is going to be processed. Likewise with potatoes, I'm going to be eating unpalatable starchy uncooked potatoes.
  - MrsPeaches 3y ago
    I found this list really helpful to understand: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_food https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_...
  - chiefalchemist 3y ago
    In 2023 it means... An apple...not processed. An ear of corn...not processed. Oatmeal...not processed. Frozen peas...not processed. Breakfast cereal...processed. Heat & serve meals in the frozen section...processed. Yogurt with fruit (and tons of sugar) pre-added...processed. Soft drinks...processed. Kid's "Happy Meal"...processed. And so on. Btw, Slaughtered and butchered meats !== processed meats. Recommened book: - Exercised - D Lieberman https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/29/exercised-by-daniel-lieberman-review-fitness-myths-exploded https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/29/exercised-by-d... - Burn - Pontzer https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/16/1016931725/study-of-hunter-gatherer-lifestyle-shows-why-crash-weight-loss-programs-dont-wor https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/16/1016931... - Comfort Crisis - M Easter - Scarcity Brain - M Easter https://eastermichael.com/ https://eastermichael.com/ Also recommended, the series "The Foods That Built America" on the History Channel. p.s. Again, key phrase "as we evolved". Last I checked archeologist aren't digging up McDonald's from eons ago.

m463 3y ago

sounds like prion disease: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion EDIT: in the sense that it is similar

noman-land 3y ago

"You could sum up Alzheimer's as: Diet/Lifestyle + a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome and you have increasing glucocorticoids which imply downregulation of the PVN, less progesterone and low levels of Prolactin reducing oligodendrocyte reducing myelin sheaths. Add in APOE e4 without choline in the diet and you have accumulation of lipids to round it all out." Can someone translate this into plain English?

Aurornis 3y ago
Unfortunately, the parent commenter is making huge leaps of logic and exaggerating the results of various studies. The Reddit source they linked to is from a telehealth medical provider who has invented a new condition and named it after himself. Skimming his writings gives strong pseudoscience / alternative medicine vibes. For example, Cushing's syndrome is a disorder of extreme excess cortisol. The incidence is estimated to be somewhere between 1 in 100,000 and 1 in 26,000. In other words, it's an extremely rare condition. Suggesting that a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome is behind Alzheimer's wouldn't make sense. There's a trend in alternative medicine to take a large collection of studies, reduce them to overly simplistic this-causes-that links, then to string them all together to generate misleading conclusions. In this case, the comment is trying to claim that lifestyle factors combined with an extremely rare 1-in-100,000 condition from birth results in a set of hormonal changes that lead to damage to the insulating layer around your nerves. It's extreme speculation, not indicative of the actual science. In general, be wary of anyone who claims to have solved complex medical conditions like Alzheimers that are still elusive to actual researchers. I hope it goes without saying that a random Hacker News commenter hasn't figured out what countless researchers have been working on for decades.
- entwife 3y ago
  I agree with Auromis. The reported research is interesting, and yet is not yet ready for application to human health. It's tempting to leap to conclusions. The top poster takes this too far. I hope that NIH funds a lot more Alzheimer's research looking for microbial causes, and also, that the technology for understanding gut microbiome continues to develop.
- 3y ago

gumby 3y ago

> You could sum up Alzheimer's as: Diet/Lifestyle + a congenital form of Cushing's syndrome and you have increasing glucocorticoids which imply downregulation of the PVN, Wit all else patients on GLP-1 agonists I wonder if the incidence of Alzheimer’s will decline? I wonder if Semaglutide reduces CRP? There are some preliminary indications that it may: https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-022-01585-7 https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-02...

toomuchtodo 3y ago
Between weight loss, inhibiting addictive behavior, lowering the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, and potentially derisking for Alzheimer’s, we should be pumping GLP-1 agonists out like a wartime effort. Likely contributor to fixing 70+ years of socioeconomic configuration that gave us Western Disease and the trimmings that come with it. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-18/glp-1-drug-benefits-like-ozempic-go-beyond-weight-loss https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-18/glp-1-dru...
- gumby 3y ago
  T will be interesting to see the side effects of chronic use of these compounds. Still too early to know.

corethree 3y ago

No way this was known before. There may be certain correlations but you have to realize this research effort is different. In controlled experiments if you as the experimenter can "cause" something to happen then you've skipped past the correlation != causation mantra that every Tom, Dick and Jane keeps chanting without fully understanding. At this point you've found causation. Causal evidence of Alzheimer's? I don't think that's ever been known. The worst case scenario after finding this is that they find out that there's multiple causative sources of Alzheimer's.