What is Alzheimer's disease?

The glymphatic system clears Alzheimer-linked proteins beta-amyloid and tau specifically during deep sleep, giving a causal mechanism connecting sleep loss to dementia risk.

“Two of the pieces of metabolic detritis that the lymphatic system cleanses when you go into deep sleep are beta amaloid and ta protein.”

Blood-based Alzheimer's biomarker tests are currently standardized against amyloid PET, which detects amyloid present in many asymptomatic elderly people, making a positive blood test alone insufficient to diagnose Alzheimer's disease.

“You want to be careful making diagnosis of Alzheimer's with just the blood test alone. I mean, there are certain blood tests, the Lumipulse blood test, the Precivity blood test, the Quest AD blood test, the C2N assays. but all these and then they all these are generally all the blood tests are standardized for the most part. I think there are a couple that aren't, but the ones I mentioned are all standardized against amyloid beta pathology on PET scan.”

Self-reported apathy in healthy, non-demented adults is associated with double the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

“Those individuals who score highly on just self-reported questionnaires for motivation, if they score highly for apathy, they have twice the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than people who don't.”

Between 90 and 99 percent of Alzheimer's patients have a concurrent primary brain pathology such as stroke, hydrocephalus, or TDP-43, making pure Alzheimer's pathology rare.

“Between 90 8 to 99% of patients with Alzheimer's have some kind of concomitant primary brain pathology.”

High cognitive reserve allows Alzheimer's patients to score near-perfect on standard cognitive tests like MoCA or MMSE even 10 to 15 years into the disease, rendering those tests inadequate for early detection in high-functioning individuals.

“Many of these patients score a 30 or 29 or a 28 well along into their condition, even 10-15 years into their condition, because they are so adept. They have such great cognitive reserves.”

Nun Study finding: a fraction of Catholic nuns showed full Alzheimer's pathology on autopsy but exhibited no cognitive deficits during life, attributed to cognitive reserve built through active social living.

“Some fraction of these nuns had Alzheimer's disease. Their brains were physically degenerating with the ravages of this dementia, but they didn't show any of the cognitive deficits that one normally has.”

Sauna use 4 to 7 times per week is associated with 61% lower stroke risk, 63% lower sudden cardiac death, and 65% lower Alzheimer's and dementia risk.

“Four to seven times a week, 61% lower stroke risk.”

Drinking 3 or more cups of caffeinated coffee per day is associated with a 34 to 37% reduction in risk of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease compared to non-drinkers.

“Regular caffeinated coffee drinkers, typically those consuming around three or more cups per day, show a remarkable 34 to 37% reduction in the risk of developing Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease compared to non-drinkers.”

A high omega-3 index is associated with a 50% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease compared to a low omega-3 index.

“Individuals that had a high omega-3 index had about a 50% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease compared to people with a low omega-3 index.”

Approximately 20 to 30 percent of people who never developed dementia still had Alzheimer's pathology (plaques and tangles) at post-mortem.

“Perhaps 20 to 30% of these individuals who never had dementia have Alzheimer pathology.”