I Told You So

The Special Report for the most recent issue of the AARP Bulletin was titled: “The Future of Alzheimer’s.” After glancing through the content I feel compelled to remind folks that I told you so. On page 17 of the bulletin the following quote was featured:

“Controlling neuroinflammation is at the forefront of new drug ideas for Alzheimer’s. In 2023, there were more drugs in human trials for inflammation than for any other target.”

After Cindy was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the Fall of 2012 I set my Google Alerts to “Alzheimer’s” and “brain health.” The Alzheimer’s alerts typically consisted of press releases targeting investors more than researchers. Every new discovery or drug test on mice promised hope for combating the disease in humans, except that all the focus was on beta-amyloid plaques and none of the successes transferred to human subjects. At best, cognitive decline slowed for a few months.

I found the brain health alerts tremendously more informative. I discovered there were super agers with amyloid plaques that never had dementia, plus several causes of dementia that did not involve amyloid plaques. The common pathology with all the causes was instead the oxidative stress that results from inflammation and occurs inside the cells. Perhaps most importantly I discovered that brain health depended on a range of lifestyle factors that reduced oxidative stress.

I challenged the conventional research and beliefs in a 2016 blog post titled: “The Alzheimer’s Murder Mystery.” For almost a decade my advocacy for brain health focused on lifestyle prevention rather than medical cures, maintaining that even if a real medical cure should be found, lifestyle prevention still should be the preferred choice if that is an option.

The AARP Special Report almost comes to this same conclusion. Almost. It reports on the disappointments of the latest round of drugs such as lecanemab. It acknowledges that healthy living provides hope. It acknowledges that prevention is key. Then in the penultimate paragraph AARP reports: “Prevention studies using drugs are gearing up.” The success of statins with lowering cholesterol is offered as an example of the future hope for Alzheimer’s.

Sigh.

As a person in a stressful situation with a family history of hypertension I am concerned about blood pressure. Health care professionals from doctors, to nurses, to phlebotomists to CNAs have recommended I take statins when my blood pressure was high. Not a single one ever suggested lifestyle changes. Not one. Yet I relied only on lifestyle changes to lower my BP from 175 over 125 to as low as 113 over 78 within a month.

I am not against medical treatments, but I am against oxymorons like “preventive medicine.” The use of medicine is to correct the way your body functions. In that regards medicine is a cure, even if also seen as preventing something fatal. “Living well” is purely a preventative strategy, though one that does not generate as much income for the pharmaceutical industry.

“Preventive” medicine prevents one affliction; living well wards off almost all afflictions. Using medicine to “prevent” one thing may mask the way you need to live your life to prevent other additional health problems. Ultimately, you may need to take more “preventive” medicine to address those problems. Indeed, a “preventive” medicine for one affliction may be the cause of another. I am curious as to how many people that rely on medicine for “prevention” end up taking a multitude of pills.

The focus now on inflammation causing Alzheimer’s I believe to be the right one. Considering that stress causes inflammation, should your prevention strategy be making life less stressful for yourself? Or will you wait until a “preventive” pill is discovered? Choose wisely.