Alzheimer's Cause Identified?

JediJeremy writes "Naturehas this article on the possibility that researchers have identified the cause of Alzheimers. Their research says that amyloid beta, a protein in the brain, may cause plaques and makes an enzyme -BACE1-that causes dimentia. In the study mice, those without BACE1 did not get dimentia, while the others did. The article also says that there are current market drugs that can stop BACE1 production and all that needs to be done is for a human trial to begin. Looks like there is hope for those that suffer."

Re:Relosing one's mind

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I think you're thinking of parkinson's correcting drugs. They exhibit the funny bounce effect alright, but parkinson's isn't like alzheimers. Parkinsons sufferers lose reliable motor function, alzheimers lose reliable mind function. Not nice :-(((((

This is great!

[ChopsMIDI]

This is exciting stuff.

My grandmother suffers from dementia. For a while (before her current medication), every few weeks she would have a dream where one of her children or grandchildren were out to kill her and she began mistaking them for real life.

Once we went over there and found she had hidden a knife under one of her table-cloths, and once she even ran away because she thought one of us was going to blow up her house.

It would be fantastic to see a cure.

Re:I think this is a symptom and not the problem!

[xyzzy42]

I am a vegetarian. Your "facts" are incorrect. Linda McCartney is probably the most well-known vegetarian to succumb to breast cancer. Vegetarians have a reduced risk and delayed onset of dementia according to this study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd= Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8327020&dopt=Abstract The risk is not zero however.

Re:I think this is a symptom and not the problem!

[sharkdba]

The human body was not designed to eat meat...

Normally I don't read @ -1, nor do I reply to AC posts, but this is a very interesting topic, and what you said is a common myth I've seen repeated too many times:

Without going into positive or negative aspects of eating meat, you can't deny biological facts. Human body WAS (I would say "IS", but you used past tense) designed to eat meat. Ever looked at your teeth? If humans were designed to be vegetarians, our teeth structure would be different. Some teeth exist only so we can process meat. Check with any dentist if you don't believe me.

Re:I think this is a symptom and not the problem!

[venicebeach]

This is getting off topic, but I feel compelled to respond to this anyway. I agree that we need to keep an open mind these things, but the problem with homeopathy is that is based on a shaky premise and employs flawed epistemological techniques. The basic idea behind homepathy is that "like cures like": homeo (same) + pathy (disease). For cases like vaccines that use small amounts of a virus to stimulate immune response, this makes sense, but in most other contexts it does not. For example, the The National Center for Homeopathy [homeopathic.org] recommends treating children who accidentally ingest poison with ipecac, which is basically poisonous itself and is used to induce vomiting. A classic homeopathic remedy. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends against using ipecac for poison treatment [aap.org]. Apparently it doesn't often get rid of all the poison and may cause the child to vomit up antidotes that actually do work, making treatment more difficult.

I'm sure there are many folk remedies that do work, but homeopathy as a principle seems kind of silly.

Re:I think this is a symptom and not the problem!

[bill_mcgonigle]

Additionally the human GI tract is another clue - the small intestine is good at digesting meats. The large intestine is good at digesting veggies. Omnivore, biology, get over it.

Of course, try convincing a rabid vegan with facts...

I like to point out the thousands of insects killed in the growing, harvesting and transportation of their "death-free carrots". 1 cow or thousands of crickets - make them explain how they make their value judgements about what can live and what must die.

"Life lives on life", somebody once said. How sad but true.

Re:difference between preventing it and curing it

[robslimo]

My father had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. As a result, he had a few TIA's (mini-strokes) that would briefly impair his speech and/or vision. His doctor(s) prescibed Plavix to prevent clotting, some anti-cholesterol drug(s) and blood pressure medication.

Rather than blow all that money on prescribed drugs, he was talked into chelation therapy by a local country doctor to remove plaque from his blood.

He had chelation treatments for about 3 years, during which time he also had more TIA's and decided to (almost) follow Dr's order by taking Plavix infrequently. After more TIA's, he finally had a massive stroke in June 2003. We found his 1 month presciption of Plavix about half full and dated January 2003. Now he is in a nursing home with no use of his left side and can't take care of himself at all.

Chelation is bogus! It was delevoped/tested by the US military as a possible treatment to remove heavy metals from one's system... it was dropped after being deemed ineffective.

Chelation IS NOT an FDA approved treatment for ANYTHING!

Re:difference between preventing it and curing it

[Tackhead]

> There's a book entitled "Toxic Metal Syndrome" that claims that these plaques can be removed using chelation therapy. The links are Google searches, so you'll be able to get a lot of viewpoints on both the book and the therapy.

There are also Quacks who sell Books and Bogus Cures based on Bogus Claims and Bad Science.

Here is a good place to start if you'd like to understand why Chelation Therapy [quackwatch.org] and Homeopathy [homeowatch.org] are bunk.

If you don't want the specific debunkings because you're afraid someone might have something negative to say about your particular "alternative health remedy" (which is obviously Not Bunk, because You're No Mere Tool of the Medical Conspiracy, and because You're Obviously Too Smart To Fall For Bunk, and because Science Doesn't Have All The Answers Anyways!), at least read the articles on How Quackery Sells [quackwatch.org] 25 ways to spot it [quackwatch.org] and do your own due diligence.

Re:I think this is a symptom and not the problem!

[Anonymous Coward]

Another Anonymous Coward wrote:
Why else do we cook meat? (Suggesting that if we were meant to eat it we wouldn't have to cook it.)

The "cooked meat" argument is not one I've heard before. Perhaps you are into raw foods as well as vegetarianism?

The primary non-animal sources of protein are grains and legumes (some vegetarians also eat eggs and dairy products, but those foods are animal in origin). Grains and legumes, like meat, typically require cooking or other processing to make them digestible. Grains can be cracked and/or polished (our teeth aren't really up to it) and then soaked for several hours to make them soft enough to chew, or cooked. Legumes pretty much must be well-cooked, as otherwise they contain sugars that the human body cannot handle (which causes flatulence, stomach upset, etc.)

With respect to other foodstuffs of plant origin, there are many that must be cooked before they can be eaten, either because they are unpleasantly or inedibly bitter unless cooked, or because they are poisonous unless cooked.