Alzheimer’s disease mostly affects older adults and is the most common type of dementia. It causes memory loss, confusion, and changes in behavior and thinking.
While there are treatments that help manage the symptoms, there is still no cure. Scientists around the world are working hard to find out what causes this disease and how to stop it.
Until now, two main ideas have been used to explain Alzheimer’s. The first one says that a protein called amyloid-beta builds up in the brain and blocks the messages between brain cells. This build-up may harm the brain and lead to Alzheimer’s.
The second theory is newer and focuses on how the body makes and uses energy. It looks at a problem with tiny parts of cells called mitochondria. These are like little power plants that make energy for our cells to work. If mitochondria don’t work properly, it may lead to Alzheimer’s.
A new study from Yale-NUS College gives strong support to this second idea. The research was led by Jan Gruber and used a small worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. This worm is often used in science because it shares many things in common with human cells.
The scientists found that the worms showed problems with their metabolism—that is, how their bodies turn food into energy—even before the harmful amyloid-beta protein started to build up. This means the energy problems might come first and could be the true start of the disease.
One of the most exciting parts of this study is the discovery that a common diabetes drug called Metformin helped fix the energy problems in the worms. After taking Metformin, the worms lived longer and became healthier. This shows that fixing the way cells make energy might help prevent Alzheimer’s, or at least slow it down.
This research also suggests something even bigger. It says that Alzheimer’s and other diseases that mostly affect older people might not be separate diseases. They could actually be part of the aging process. If that’s true, then maybe we should treat aging itself, instead of just the diseases that come with it.
This study is an important step forward. It gives us a new idea for how to fight Alzheimer’s—by helping cells make energy the right way. But we still need more research. Scientists need to test if Metformin or similar drugs can help people, not just worms. They also need to make sure the drugs are safe for long-term use in humans.
The research was published in the journal eLife and points us in a new direction for understanding and treating Alzheimer’s disease. It gives us hope that one day we might prevent or even cure this heartbreaking condition. While there is still a lot to learn, this study adds an important clue to solving the mystery of Alzheimer’s.
If you care about Alzheimer’s, please read studies about the likely cause of Alzheimer’s disease , and new non-drug treatment that could help prevent Alzheimer’s.
For more health information, please see recent studies about diet that may help prevent Alzheimer’s, and results showing some dementia cases could be prevented by changing these 12 things.
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