New Thinking About Dementia

Medical research has been pounding away at the tangled protein model for a few decades now without much to show for it. Drug after drug designed to reduce these tangles has proven ineffective in real world situations at stemming the tide of age-related dementias.

Some new ideas are coming into focus as we speak and one of those involves the study of the lysosomes of the brain. Lysosomes are like the curbside refuse pickup centers of the cells. They travel through the cell looking for unwanted material whether that be proteins, carbohydrates or fats, break them down so they can either be reused or eliminated. You can see why lysosomes are essential for the general health of the cell.

Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia and is characterized early by loss of short-term memory, searching for words, loss of spatial orientation, and mood swings. The brain even shrinks, particularly the hippocampus. We do see that accumulation of tau proteins associated with Alzheimer's but just employing treatments that target beta amyloid or tau proteins seems to be missing the point.

If these amyloid beta and tau proteins are part of the problem but result from malfunctioning lysosomes, reducing the amyloid beta and tau just slows down the effects but leaves the lysosome mechanism untouched and they just keep cranking out these proteins and other products.

I refer often to Dr. Dale Bredesen's research on the types of Alzheimer's that can respond to lifestyle changes. A small subset of Alzheimer's dementia appears to be strongly controlled by genetics, is early onset, rapidly progresses and really needs a cure. If you are developing Alzheimer's symptoms in your 60's, this is probably not the genetic version and most likely can respond to lifestyle changes.

I am going to make the assumption that the reason that Dr. Bredesen's approach works is because it helps with lysosome health. In mouse studies, those strains with lysosome problems more readily become diabetic. As you might remember, Alzheimer's is often referred to as Type III Diabetes as the cells are losing their ability to regulate blood sugar.

This link will take you a blog describing this process.

Bottom line is with some effort, mild cases have hope but this will require learning what changes are necessary and getting to work on those.