We may finally know what causes Alzheimer’s – and how to stop it

We may finally know what causes Alzheimer’s – and how to stop it
New Scientist

When I first read this, it sounded unbelievable.

If you bled when you brushed your teeth this morning, you might want to get that seen to. We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer’s disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease. That’s bad, as gum disease affects around a third of all people. But the good news is that a drug that blocks the main toxins of P. gingivalis is entering major clinical trials this year, and research published today shows it might stop and even reverse Alzheimer’s. There could even be a vaccine.
...
Bacteria in the brain

The disease often involves the accumulation of proteins called amyloid and tau in the brain, and the leading hypothesis has been that the disease arises from defective control of these two proteins.

But research in recent years has revealed that people can have amyloid plaques without having dementia. So many efforts to treat Alzheimer’s by moderating these proteins have failed that the hypothesis has been seriously questioned.

However evidence has been growing that the function of amyloid proteins may be as a defense against bacteria, leading to a spate of recent studies looking at bacteria in Alzheimer’s, particularly those that cause gum disease, which is known to be a major risk factor for the condition.

Bacteria involved in gum disease and other illnesses have been found after death in the brains of people who had Alzheimer’s, but until now, it hasn’t been clear whether these bacteria caused the disease or simply got in via brain damage caused by the condition.

Gum disease link
Multiple research teams have been investigating P. gingivalis, and have so far found that it invades and inflames brain regions affected by Alzheimer’s; that gum infections can worsen symptoms in mice genetically engineered to have Alzheimer’s; and that it can cause Alzheimer’s-like brain inflammation, neural damage, and amyloid plaques in healthy mice.

“When science converges from multiple independent laboratories like this, it is very compelling,” says Casey Lynch of Cortexyme, a pharmaceutical firm in San Francisco, California.

The article goes on detailing the research.

It seems to be true. I certainly hope so.

Obviously some research yet to be done, but how crazy would it be that after all this time gum disease could be the culprit.

I truly hope a cure or treatment comes quickly. Such a depressing disease.

originally posted by: headorheart
Obviously some research yet to be done, but how crazy would it be that after all this time gum disease could be the culprit.

It's happened before with stomach ulcers. For years, nobody could figure out what was causing it so they made people eat bland food and avoid stomach acid-producing stress and all kinds of things, and that turned out to mostly be due to a bacteria, too, H. pylori.

It's certainly compelling. And it's good to know that there are a few different groups coming to the same conclusions.

My uncle suffers from this and hopefully now that they know a cause. There can be a cure.

Looks like I'm going to have to go to the dentist.

a reply to: headorheart

It wouldn't be the first time that gum disease was shown to be risky.

People with gum disease are more at risk for heart attack. And also heart valve damage.

www.health.harvard.edu...


And as always, chronic inflammation is a health risk.

Can you hear it too? The sound of the dentist salivating at the influx of people that will visit them for this news.

I wonder if there is any way gum disease is a symptom, just like heart disease and maybe now Alzheimer's. They are thinking that bad gum allows bacteria to enter into the body? For some reason, I think they are all related. My dentist professed that there are 2 main types of people he encounters, those with gum disease and those with tooth decay. Sometimes they overlap but the severity usually favors one of the two.

I was sloppy for a while and didn't go to the dentist. My eating habits were terrible, with most of my diet consisting of processed foods. I had just started paleo/keto and also decided to do something about my mouth. At first my pockets were 8-9s and they thought surgery would be needed. They tried out an ultraviolet laser thinking that it would kill the bacteria below the gum line, allowing healing to take place. Well after 4 years now, my gums have pretty much healed with all pockets being mostly 2s with just a couple 3s left. No surgery needed. I am not sure they get the results that I had with just the laser from other patients.

I just don't understand why they don't link any of this. It is all related Piss poor eating habits. Chemicals disguised as food but are instead pure poison. Processed sugars and carbs. Poison.

Oh well, eating healthy would implode our medical establishment. That is the only reason I can come up for why they continue to completely ignore this education.

I don't know I have a problem with this, dental care is not homogeneous through the world, if gum problems cause Alzheimer, by logic there should be a bigger incidence of it in rural areas of third world countries with low access to dental care than in the first world, is this the case?

I sense a plot of big dentistry in all this...

a reply to: Indigent

Out of all the medical establishments/divisions I envisioned dentists being the most un-corrupted. Their practice seems pretty straight forward. There could be a little fraud, maybe saying wisdom teeth needing to come out due to space where the person would be just fine letting them grow in.

The really interesting thing was the new full head xray/scanner they were required to purchase due to govt regulations. They said something about seeing a lot more mouth cancer in younger and younger adults.

Was just googling around looking up this bug porphyromonas gingivalis and also porphyromonas gingivalis treatment. From what I've seen so far it is pretty well summerized in the Wikipedia article. It's hard to kill and opens you up to other infections.

I thought since this is well known in the dental field, there must be treatments or cures. Maybe an antibiotic exists but not many were mentioned. Apparently in dentistry it is mostly dealt with by tooth cleaning.

One article Porphyromonas gingivalis: An Overview of Periodontopathic Pathogen below the Gum Line discussed a variety of antibiotics but then discussed how to deliver them deep below the gums. This is interesting but I was thinking more in terms of drugs crossing the blood brain barrier to fight the infection in the brain.

Last I thought of antiseptic or germicidal substances that could be added to toothpaste or mouthwash. I don't know to what extent substances already on the market kill this stuff or any germs. I haven't found much on that yet either.

My Mother died from Alzheimer’s.

She had horrible teeth and gums.

I hope they can figure this out.

I’m the age my mom started losing her mind.

a reply to: toms54

This is great news. It makes sense, our brains are just inches from our mouths. This makes me want to have my teeth cleaned, like today.

I'm going to stick w/My earlier prognosis..

Alzheimers Disease will be classified as 'Diabetes III' in just a few short years...

Back before the Microwave Oven and Cellular Telephone there were a heck of a lot more Negative Ions in the atmosphere, then 'the machines' started to take over. Back then, folks knew someone who knew someone who was "Senile" now that someone lives next door, or in the room next to Yours...

Stay Hydrated... (this is "key" in keeping 'fit' and if You keep reading, You'll see that many folks succumb to illness due to being dehydrated...)

a reply to: JimNasium

Just like diabetes it is probably made worse by high fructose corn syrup. Back in the day they did have corn syrup pancake syrup, but not many people actually drank it. Now it is in soda, everything.

This information is not correct. That microbe might cause some dementias but not that many. It depends on what the excretion of the microbe does, if it blocks choline then it could cause some of the Alzheimer disease out there. If it interferes with diet to lower taurine levels, the bodies natural antioxident and neuromodulator, then it could cause alzheimer or dementia to occur. If it creates chemicals that cause the kidneys to quit processing calcidiol into calcitriol, it could promote alzheimer disease. If the microbe's chemicals cause improper hystamine levels in the body, that could increase dementia risk. Does the microbe excrete chemistry similar to the meds they give people that have anticholinerogenic properties, then they could increase alzheimer risk

I do not consider this microbes influence any more than a minor part in relation to alzheimers, some of the meds and supplements and of course diet are way more important than this microbe. Yes, it may help a few people if their body chemistry does not neutralize or compensate for the chemicals, but diet and some even mild exercise, like walking around the house more, would help more than a vaccine. This is a sales scam for most parts. Alxheimer can have a genetic link, if the body does not make the proper enzymes, the diet can be adjusted to cancel out the risk most times. If your diet is correct, it will actually have a proper histamine response and wage war against the bacteria. Too big a histamine is not good, too little histamine is not good either.

If it was that simple to stop alzheimer risk I would have already have accepted this, this association has been around for many years, their solution will not be accepted as pertinent by the majority of other alzheimers disease researchers out there. Too much antihistamines or excessive antioxidants can also cause alzheimers, that actually lowers the bodies ability to kill these pathogens.

I am not saying that the OP is wrong, only that this article will only help maybe five percent of the people with the disease at most. Many of the treatments they gave for alzheimer disease actually made it worse.

a reply to: rickymouse

You appear to have some understanding of the effects of this malady and drugs used to treat it. Do any of these drugs provide a cure? Or just symptomatic relief? Why must the causative agent mimic the drugs? Even if they had the cure in hand, it would not have the same effects because the drugs they have now do not cure the disease.

There has been intensive research on this for several years now. I'm sure they have investigated most plausible avenues.

While I was looking around Google I noticed many articles about p. gingivalis and Alzheimers, not just this one. I chose this because it was easiest to understand but the work is out there right now.

I was like you, thinking this was hype for some new patent medicine. That's what my earlier post was about. Now I'm convinced this isn't just speculation. So many breakthrough announcements are just to drum up cash for research and don't pan out. I believe if you do your own research, you will also be convinced.

a reply to: toms54

Wow that a little scary

Lets hope this might be the key to the problem

S&F

a reply to: toms54

My wife's aunt had alzheimer disease and their treatments actually made it worse.

My wife has the risk genes, so I have been reading a lot of research on this subject for years. Their treating of the symptoms actually was causing more harm then help, progressing the disease instead of stopping it. Excess Dopamine without enough acetylcholine to balance it can cause the disease to start taking hold. When you talk about dopamine, some tyramines eaten to excess can trigger too much dopamine to form. So can rewarding yourself all the time with treats that increase dopamine, shopping can cause an uptick in dopamine anything that gives you a dopamine rush can increase risk if it is done all the time. Stars on your posts by others raise dopamine too, so don't star this post

You can have an overgrowth of some bacteria or fungus in your gut and it can increase risk of dementias, but some of the bacteria are beneficial so balance of gut flora is important.

I don't want my wife or I getting alzheimers, I know a dozen people or so that had it. Numbers are increasing because so much prepared food contains chemistry to raise dopamine levels. Now, there are many types of dementia and risk varies between the types. But this vaccine will make people falsely believe they are protected when they are not. The information of the article came from testing funded by a Pharmaceutical company. They are trying to promote a vaccine, and although the content is relevant, only a small part of people with alzheimer disease get their disease from that microbe, an expensive vaccine which may have more side effects than benefit if it triggers creation of too much histamine or immune response. From my research I would not advise anyone to take this vaccine unless they have cultured samples to prove they are not fighting this microbe. There are lots of natural ways to boost the bodies ability to fight this, a coconut oil treatment would probably help and it's lauric acid chemistry could help with other problems too.

I am glad you brought this article here, it is about time I wrote more on what I have found on researching this stuff, if nobody gets my attention, I won't give out what I know. I do not like making threads, I would rather comment on others. I am still not to the point that I could even steer someone into taking the best direction to stop this disease from progressing. Maybe if I were to discuss what I have found with a doctor who has seen more of how their treatments have not really helped or have witnessed personally remission from alzheimer by dietary changes or certain meds, I could learn how to advise people. I have read a lot on this, probably way more than regular doctors have, but I think there are some specialists out there who got me hands down with their knowledge. Not here in a small community though, we do not have many specialists here and the money here for pay is not as lucrative as some richer areas so the best follow money or prestigious hospitals.

its not that hard to avoid you just have to check the label of everything you buy. the only time I get it is when I get candy bars, and that is the only time. and that is not even high fructose, just corn syrup.

a reply to: toms54

a reply to: rickymouse

So do you see it as a family of closely related diseases or a group of different diseases with similar symptoms like the amyloid plaque?