Probiotics As Potential Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease?
If the gut microbiome can reach our brains, can we use probiotics to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease?
The gray tide
As average life expectancy increases, the elderly (>65 years of age) are the most rapidly growing demographic group globally.
Old age, though, is not without its challenges. Skin sags, body shape and fat distribution change, muscle tone decreases, immunity starts to sputter, the risk for cancer goes up, joints creak, memory falters, and even our microbiome might give us trouble.
One of the great worries about the coming ‘gray tide’ is the healthcare burden it might represent, not in the least due to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain condition associated with cognitive, memory, and behavioral problems. The disease is linked to plaques and tangles in the brain — protein clumps that appear to wreak havoc in the blob encased by our skulls (although the causal relationship between the disease and the plaques/tangles— if any — is still unclear).
Several genes seem to be involved in Alzheimer’s. The most well-known one is APOE. One version of this gene, APOEε4…
