It seems that the battle for Alzheimer’s prevention has been hijacked by big pharma.
This is certainly my conclusion when I read between the lines of a new report by the Alzheimer’s Prevention Expert Group (APEG).
APEG boasts a panel of 24 global experts chaired by Patrick Holford, including Professor Michael Crawford from Imperial College London, Associate Professor David Perlmutter MD from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and Dr Uma Naidoo from Harvard Medical School.
Their controversial report is entitled, ‘Are blood tests for Alzheimer’s a “misguided waste of money”?’
They directly challenge the mainstream focus on developing new blood tests for Alzheimer’s that concentrate on early diagnosis and drug treatments.
The aim of these tests is supposedly to identify those who are heading towards Alzheimer’s early, providing a cheaper and less invasive alternative to scans.
Nothing wrong with that, in principle.
However, APEG argue that existing cognitive function tests like the neuropsychological test battery (NTB) and Cognitive Function Test (CFT) are already effective.
So why this push for the blood tests, they wonder?
They worry that by trying to spot “pre-Alzheimer’s” in asymptomatic people, we’re going to see a massive and unnecessary overdiagnosis of drugs.
Hmmm….
Do you recognise this story?
This sounds a lot like the medical establishment trend for spotting ‘pre-diabetes’, where people are pushed onto drugs like Metformin before they even develop the condition.
It prompted the author of a study in the BMJ, to write: “Prediabetes is an artificial category with virtually zero clinical relevance…. There is no proven benefit of giving diabetes treatment drugs to people in this category before they develop diabetes, particularly since many of them would not go on to develop diabetes anyway.”
The same thing happened with cholesterol, where the remit for offering statins was widened dramatically to anyone with a 20% risk or more of developing heart disease.
Recently, they’ve pushed for this to broaden even further to people with a 10% risk – adding an extra 15 million to the list of people on statins.
Well, this story is repeating itself with pre-Alzheimer’s.
The authors of the new report by APEG suggest that the increasing push for blood testing “is likely driven by a quite different ulterior motive – to create and sell drugs – much like cholesterol and statins.”
The problem with Alzheimer’s drugs
Experts now believe that cognitive decline begins as early as age 18.
This means it’s possible to spot people whose cognitive function is dropping away faster than average, then give them preventative actions including diet and lifestyle changes.
But this isn’t what’s happening…
Instead, the focus is to test adults’ blood, looking at amyloids as a diagnostic marker. The amyloid protein commonly forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
However, the panel at the Alzheimer’s Prevention Expert Group (APEG) think that this will lead to overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis.
They say that the presence of amyloids doesn’t necessarily mean a person will develop Alzheimer’s symptoms.
Drugs like Lecanemab and Aducanumab target the amyloid protein but by focusing on this (or other specific proteins like p-tau), these medicines may overlook other important factors in Alzheimer’s development and progression.
What’s more, they come with significant risks:
- Brain bleeding
- Brain swelling
- Increased risk of adverse effects in patients with a history of stroke
In some cases, these side effects can be fatal.
Worse, say APEG, none of the latest drugs have a “clinically significant effect.” This means that while they may show some measurable impact in trials, the real-world benefits for patients are not substantial.
So what’s the alternative?
The Power of B Vitamins
APEG believe that we’re in danger of missing the crucial nutritional and lifestyle solutions that are right in front of us.
They argue that the focus should be on modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s, such homocysteine levels.
Homocysteine is a toxic amino acid that can accumulate in the blood when someone isn’t consuming enough B vitamins, particularly B6, folate (B9), and B12 (in particular as B12 becomes harder to absorb as we age.)
The result is:
- increased levels of p-tau (a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s)
- inhibition of the brain’s ability to clear p-tau
According to Professor David Smith from APEG, raised homocysteine levels account for approximately 20% of dementia cases.
But unlike some other risk factors, they can be reduced via high doses of B vitamins.
A trial led by Professor Smith found that in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and high homocysteine, B vitamin supplementation slowed the rate of brain cell death by up to 73% – and it also stopped cognitive decline.
So instead of pushing for more diagnostic blood tests and drugs, we should look nutritional solutions to high-risk factors like homocysteine. including B vitamins, omega-3, vitamin D, and lowering blood sugar levels.
I was fascinated to read this report, which challenges the mainstream approach to Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment.
And I was pleased to see a panel of medical experts championing lifestyle and nutrition over pharmaceutical solutions.
They warn against dishing out drugs to people before they even develop a condition – especially since those drugs might not even prevent it happening.
A story that seems to be repeating itself, over and over!
If you want to read the article, you can find it here: https://foodforthebrain.org/are-blood-tests-for-alzheimers-a-misguided-waste-of-money/
Yours as ever
