Longevity Lifehacks: Preventing Alzheimer's

The stats on Alzheimer's are grim...

Hi everyone,

This Longevity Lifehacks newsletter has been a long time in the making! You may have signed up months ago and forgotten all about it. I’m finally getting in gear and putting together a newsletter that should arrive in your inbox or Substack app on a monthly basis.

My goal is to tackle the thorny issues of what really works to extend healthspan. I don't have lofty aspirations of living to 180, but rather more realistic goals of preventing the diseases of aging. There is a lot of research on different aspects of aging, and I want to know the big picture of what actually works that is realistic to do.

Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia and neurocognitive decline are at the top of my list for prevention.

The question for me is: What is really important for Alzheimer's prevention? And what are the inexpensive and realistic things I can do in middle age?

Here’s what I know (so far):

Combined metabolic activators:
A Phase II clinical trial showed statistically significant improvements in cognitive scores in Alzheimer’s patients after 3 months of taking a combination of over-the-counter supplements. The metabolic activators included L-serine, nicotinamide riboside, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, and L-carnitine tartrate — all supplements that can affect bioenergetic processes. Here’s my full article on the study along with other studies on the supplements used.

Microdoses of lithium:
Low-dose lithium orotate has some interesting research behind it for Alzheimer's prevention. Several epidemiologic studies show that areas with higher levels of lithium in the drinking water have lower rates of Alzheimer's disease. Mechanistically, animal studies show that lithium increases the clearance of soluble beta-amyloid. Lithium also exerts an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting COX2 in certain brain regions. In addition, lithium affects GSK-3B and circadian rhythms, which also is important in preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

Bile acids in the brain:
Produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder, bile acids are essential for helping us digest and absorb fats from food. This is the major use of bile acids in the body, but some bile acids enter the bloodstream and are used throughout the body as signaling molecules for regulating energy. In Alzheimer’s patients, there is a reduction in primary bile acids. Animal studies show that TUDCA, a bile acid supplement, reduces neuroinflammation and the insulin-related brain changes seen in Alzheimer’s. Read my full article on bile acids, liver health, gut microbiome, and TUDCA for Alzheimer’s prevention.

Methylene Blue:
Methylene blue acts within cells to move electrons (redox reactions). It has been studied in several Phase III clinical trials in Alzheimer’s patients. Initially in studies, a high dose of methylene blue was used, along with a low dose for the placebo arm. Methylene blue turns your urine green, so the placebo needed to be what was thought to be too low to have any effect as a drug. It turns out that the low dose methylene blue arm (4mg) was beneficial, while the high dose was not. Here’s my full article on this with links to the trials. Methylene blue isn’t right for everyone, so read up on it if you have G6PD deficiency or are on MAOIs.

In addition to the above research studies, there seems to be an overall benefit for eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, good relationships, and cognitive challenges as a baseline for preventing or delaying dementia.[ref] New research is coming out every day, so I’m hopeful that there will be a full understanding of the cause of Alzheimer’s with surefire methods of prevention. For example, avoiding plastic nanoparticles may end up being the key to long-term brain health!

Thanks for reading!

~ Debbie

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