Common Health Complaint Linked to Alzheimer’s
Yesterday, we talked about a study showing the connection between viruses and neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
Today, we’ll highlight yet another unlikely connection to Alzheimer’s.
When this ONE aspect of your health is in good working order, you won’t just be slashing your risk of Alzheimer’s…
You’ll ALSO be improving your immune system, mood, sleep quality, heart health, and more.
Gut health affects everything from the absorption of vitamins to digestion and immune health.
And now you can add brain health to this list as well.
A recent mouse study showed that gut health affects immune cells in the brain that promote neurodegeneration in conditions like Alzheimer’s.
Other research has added to this picture, showing that the digestive systems of patients with Alzheimer’s tend to look different than those of folks who don’t have the disease.
What’s been unclear is whether the altered microbiome is the cause or effect of Alzheimer’s.
To study this further, researchers altered the gut microbiomes of mice predisposed to developing Alzheimer’s-like disease.
They found that unbalancing the gut microbiome led to changes that damaged brain tissue and triggered neurodegeneration.
In other words, the altered gut balance appeared to have PROMPTED the damage.
That, of course, means that improving your gut health could be a major tool for preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
When you add this research to the study I reported on yesterday showing the viral connection to brain disease, it highlights that there’s rarely a single factor that causes any illness.
All the more reason to aim for an overall healthy lifestyle, instead of searching for a single magic bullet.
However, if you’re looking for a simple way to improve your gut health and reduce your risks, consider taking a quality probiotic.
P.S. Finding ways to boost your gut health should be high on your priority list. Taking a quality probiotic is a good start… but there’s another surprising super “star” that can keep your gut healthy.
SOURCE:
“Gut microbes modulate neurodegeneration,” Science, 379, 6628, (142-143), (2023). /doi/10.1126/science.adf9548
