> He found that too much of YKL-40, which is linked to Alzheimer’s risk in humans, leads to amyloid build-up, an accumulation that is a hallmark of the neurodegenerative disease.
There are countless studies that highlight how genetics or lifestyle and other factors that result in a reduction of estrogen signaling are associated with Alzheimer's. Estrogen, primarily activated at night decreases the expression of the YKL-40 gene. All of the known interventions, from vitamin D, Mg, to gut, choline, etc all can improve estrogen signaling, decreasing YKL-40 gene. One can end up with Alzheimer's from many different routes so interventions depend on the person.
If there was a pill on the market today that would only increase the plaque-clearing all this really does is move the needle, they still have reduced estrogen signaling and the next weakest part of the system would fail such as from animpaired immune system and they will probably die of pneumonia.
But we could back up and say what is the most common cause of the global reduced estrogen signaling? Often increased oxy-androgens (which increase as we age), so for example 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) which can't convert to its estrogen form results in upregulates HSD17B2. Why do we have so much inflammation causing increased oxy-androgens from the adrenals? Senescence cells releasing inflammatory factors SASP. More time more time spent on repair resulting in identity loss and mesenchymal drift. All a fancy way of saying we get older and will probably die from whatever weakest part of the system we have genetically. Fix one thing and something else breaks instead.
And for those that want to bring in the most well known genetic mutation APOE e4: APOE e4/e4 has elevated choline demands hindering estrogen signaling as well as raising HDL and lowering LDL. Low estrogen influences Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein, raising HDL and lowers LDL beyond what e4/e4 does by itself. With less choline and less phosphatidylcholine, it decreases GLUT1 transporters reducing glucose entering the brain. All of the above leads to an escalating amyloid plaque burden. Then reduced deep sleep and the glymphatic system cleaning is reduced too and you have Alzheimer's.
The above was just from memory probably had an error, but the point is Alzheimer's is not "simple" like this article pretends.
There is a recent study on this showing how this form can provide better results in the brain. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S305047402...
In general: Omega-3, bcomplex with choline etc all have studies. Really it depends on the individual and what their genetic weakest issue is. Its old and boring, but eat healthy, don't eat before bed, exercise (dance!), and get good sleep always apply.
I suppose since atmospheric oxygen is mostly of biological origin, yes, you're technically correct in labelling oxygen in the air as a toxin.
latchkey•2h ago
"Circadian cycles impact Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infection by influencing both the host's immune response and the virus's replication."
Update: I'm no expert in any of this. Just thinking aloud. Would love some much smarter HN community to speak up on the topic.
cjbgkagh•2h ago
kakacik•2h ago
anon84873628•57m ago
What I'm learning from these articles is that Alzheimer's results when certain processes fail and negative feedback loops begin. That could be due to a genetic issue (and thus is heritable as you mention), or an immune response (and thus correlated with HSV infection), a toxin, a sleep disorder, whatever. In some cases disrupting the loop maybe be enough to restore function. In others we need to understand the unique root causes. There are many areas to explore and disentangle.