There is a connection between intestinal disorders and Alzheimer’s. Scientists have found this out and discovered common genetic characteristics between the two diseases. A real breakthrough in research!
Alzheimer’s destroys cognitive ability and is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure and research assumes that by 2050 more than 150 million people worldwide could be affected.1 A prophecy that new discoveries may be able to prevent. Because US researchers made a connection between intestinal disorders and Alzheimer’s for the first time.2 To do this, they examined common genetic characteristics of the two diseases and discovered the special importance of cholesterol. This was a real breakthrough for them.
Intestinal disorders and Alzheimer’s are linked
Previous observations have already established a connection between Alzheimer’s and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.3 What exactly is behind it, however, was unclear – until now. Because researchers at East Carolina University in the USA have examined these connections more closely and found a genetic commonality between Alzheimer’s and several intestinal disorders. To do this, they analyzed large amounts of data on the genetic characteristics of Alzheimer’s and several studies on intestinal diseases – each with 400,000 sufferers. The team discovered that people with Alzheimer’s and bowel diseases share common genes.
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The Effect of Cholesterol
In examining these shared genetic traits, researchers stumbled upon the importance of lipid metabolism. Abnormal cholesterol levels would promote both intestinal diseases and Alzheimer’s. The genetic and biological characteristics of both diseases would therefore indicate a special role for the fat metabolism, the immune system and thus cholesterol-lowering drugs. High blood lipid levels can also lead to abnormal cholesterol metabolism in the brain and, as a result, cognitively impair the central nervous system. At the same time, unhealthy blood lipid levels can also be caused or aggravated by gut bacteria, which supports their importance in Alzheimer’s and gut disorders and also highlights the interaction.
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Interaction of gut and brain
Outcomes that matter for many reasons. They not only improve the understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s and intestinal disorders, but also make it possible to detect the diseases earlier. The link between cholesterol and Alzheimer’s could prove crucial for the treatment of Alzheimer’s in the future. In the future, cholesterol-lowering drugs could possibly be of therapeutic use in the treatment of dementia and intestinal diseases. Also the nutrition could play a greater role in treatment and prevention. The results also provide further evidence of the interaction of the cognitive and emotional centers of the brain and gut function, explains study leader Professor Simon Laws.
Sources
- 1. Dementia Forecasting Collaborators (2019). Estimation of the global prevalence of dementia in 2019 and forecasted prevalence in 2050: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. The Lancet Public Health.
- 2. Laws S, Adewuyi E, O’Brien EK (2022). A large-scale genome-wide cross-trait analysis reveals shared genetic architecture between Alzheimer’s disease and gastrointestinal tract disorders. Communications Biology.
- 3. Jiang C, Li G, Huang P (2017). The Gut Microbiota and Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.