Alzheimer’s disease is a serious health problem that affects millions of older people around the world.
It is the main cause of dementia, which leads to memory loss, confusion, and changes in behavior.
In Singapore, for example, about one out of every ten people aged 60 or older is thought to have dementia.
Scientists have been studying Alzheimer’s for over twenty years, but they still don’t fully understand what causes it. And so far, there is no treatment that can cure the disease.
There are two main ideas about what causes Alzheimer’s. The first theory says that a certain protein called amyloid-beta builds up in the brain and causes damage.
The second theory, which is newer, suggests that problems with how cells produce energy may be the real cause. These energy problems happen in parts of the cell called mitochondria, which act like little power plants.
Researchers at Yale-NUS College wanted to test these ideas. They used a very small worm called Caenorhabditis elegans to study the disease. This worm is often used in science because its cells work a lot like human cells.
What they found was surprising. Before any large amounts of the harmful protein showed up in the brain, they already saw problems in how cells were making energy. This means the damage may start even earlier than scientists thought.
Then the researchers tried something new. They gave the worms a medicine called Metformin, which is usually used to treat diabetes. The result was exciting—Metformin helped fix the energy problems in the worms and even made them live longer and stay healthier.
This discovery could be very important. It suggests that if we treat the energy problems in cells early on, we might be able to prevent Alzheimer’s before it even starts. Instead of waiting for the brain to be filled with harmful proteins, we could act much sooner.
The study also points to something bigger. It shows that problems with metabolism and mitochondria are not just linked to Alzheimer’s, but to aging in general. As we get older, our cells become less efficient at making energy, and this may be one of the reasons we get age-related diseases.
This means that we might be able to fight many diseases of aging by targeting the aging process itself. Instead of focusing only on specific diseases, we could look at ways to help our cells stay younger and healthier for longer.
The team behind this study was led by Jan Gruber, and the research was published in the journal eLife. Their work offers hope that in the future, we might be able to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s by focusing on how our bodies age—and possibly even use common medicines like Metformin to do it.
If you care about Alzheimer’s disease, please read studies about root cause of Alzheimer’s disease and new treatment and Scientists find the link between eye disease glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease.
For more health information, please read studies about new way to treat Alzheimer’s disease and Fluctuating cholesterol and triglyceride levels are linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
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