Alzheimer's Disease: Why We're Wrong About Its Causes – Prof Karl Herrup | Reason & Wellbeing 33

Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that tragically causes tens of millions of people worldwide to lose their minds. Alzheimer’s was first described in 1906. You might therefore assume that by now we’d understand it well and have effective and safe treatments for it. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. The history of Alzheimer’s research has been mired by misdirection, and medications developed to counter it have proven ineffective. If you want to learn more about this chequered past, I strongly recommend you read Professor Karl Herrup’s book, How Not to Study a Disease. Today I’m bringing you the first part of my conversation with Karl. Part 1 of my chat with Karl explores what Alzheimer’s is, who it affects, and what causes the disease. After the introduction, it’s a little technical at times, but the details aren’t superfluous, as I hope you’ll recognise in Part 2. In Part 2 we get to potential treatments for Alzheimer’s, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already and don’t want to miss those. As always, you can also find Reason & Wellbeing on all major podcasting platforms, and it's on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... Enjoy, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! People and resources featured in this episode: Karl Herrup, PhD. Find out more about Karl’s work here: https://www.pstp.pitt.edu/people/karl... Karl is on LinkedIn here:   / karl-herrup-920a3a2a7   Greg Potter, PhD. Follow Greg on Instagram here:   / gregpotterphd   Follow Greg on LinkedIn here:   / gregpotterphd   Book: How Not to Study a Disease: The Story of Alzheimer's https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Study-... Time codes: 00:00 — Introduction 00:19 — Rapid-fire summary of what you need to know about Alzheimer's 07:51 — Difficulty defining Alzheimer's disease 12:44 — Sporadic versus familial Alzheimer's disease, and how Alzheimer's relates to other neurodegenerative diseases 20:09 — What causes Alzheimer's disease 25:47 — Loss of proteostasis in Alzheimer's disease 28:01 — The amyloid cascade hypothesis 30:35 — Amyloid precursor protein 35:17 — Could amyloid have beneficial roles? 37:56 — Fatal flaws in the amyloid cascade hypothesis 43:50 — Roles of phosphorylated tau in Alzheimer's disease 46:18 — Brain volume loss in Alzheimer's disease 48:16 — Cell cycle dysregulation in Alzheimer's disease 53:35 — The importance of oligodendrocyte dysfunction and myelin loss to Alzheimer's disease 1:02:56 — APOE genotype and Alzheimer's disease risk 1:04:27 — Insulin resistance and Alzheimer's disease risk 1:09:11 — The importance of cardiovascular health to brain health Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. The video does not constitute the practice of medicine or any other professional healthcare service. The use of information on this video or materials linked from this video is exclusively at the listener’s own risk. The contents of this video are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Viewers should not wait to obtain or disregard medical advice for any medical conditions they have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for such conditions. Under no circumstances shall Greg Potter, Greg Potter PhD Limited, or any guests or contributors to the podcast be responsible for damages arising from the use of the contents of this video.