Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that mostly affects older people. It is the most common type of dementia and slowly takes away a person’s memory, thinking skills, and ability to carry out everyday tasks.
While some medicines can help manage symptoms, there is still no cure. Scientists around the world have been trying for years to understand what exactly causes Alzheimer’s, so they can find better ways to treat or even prevent it.
So far, two main ideas have guided Alzheimer’s research. The first idea is that a sticky protein called amyloid-beta builds up in the brain and blocks the way brain cells communicate with each other. This buildup is believed to play a big role in the disease.
The second idea, which has gained more attention recently, suggests that Alzheimer’s might actually start with problems in how cells produce energy. These problems involve the mitochondria, which are often called the powerhouses of the cell.
A new study from Yale-NUS College in Singapore, led by scientist Jan Gruber, has given strong support to this second idea. The research team used a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans to study how Alzheimer’s might begin. Even though these worms are small and simple, they share many basic cell functions with humans, so they are often used in research.
What the team found was surprising. Before the sticky amyloid-beta protein even started building up in the worms’ cells, there were already signs that something was wrong with their metabolism—the way cells make and use energy. This shows that the energy problem might come first, and the protein buildup comes later.
Even more exciting, the researchers tried giving the worms a common diabetes medicine called Metformin. When the worms received this drug, their cells’ energy systems started working normally again. Not only that, but the worms also became healthier and lived longer. This suggests that Metformin helped fix the root problem before serious damage could happen.
This finding is especially interesting because Metformin has already been used safely for many years to treat people with type 2 diabetes. If the same effects are seen in humans, this drug—or others like it—could one day be used to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s by keeping the cells’ energy systems healthy.
The researchers also shared another big idea: maybe diseases like Alzheimer’s are not separate illnesses, but rather signs of the aging process itself.
In other words, as we age, our cells naturally become less efficient, and diseases like Alzheimer’s might simply be one result of that process. If that’s true, treating the causes of aging—like fixing mitochondria—might help prevent not just Alzheimer’s, but many age-related conditions.
Of course, this study was done in worms, not humans. More research is needed to see if the same thing happens in people, and if Metformin or similar treatments are safe and effective in the long run.
Still, this study gives scientists a new direction to explore. Instead of only focusing on clearing away amyloid-beta proteins, researchers might now look more closely at how to protect our cells’ energy systems as we age.
Published in the journal eLife, this research adds a new and hopeful piece to the Alzheimer’s puzzle. While we are still far from a complete answer, this work moves us closer to better treatments—and maybe one day, a way to prevent the disease altogether.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that pomace olive oil could help lower blood cholesterol, and honey could help control blood sugar.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that blueberries strongly benefit people with metabolic syndrome, and results showing eggs in a plant-based diet may benefit people with type 2 diabetes.
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