We're now going to spend the rest of this AMA with the true focus of what are these things that you can do to prevent Alzheimer's dementia. And we'll cover a ton of questions that we get, but I think what would be really helpful is even though we're going to spend more time than less on some of these different preventions. Just because we don't have the time and the day to cover them all in detail, do you just want to give people that kind of quick list of, hey, here are all the factors that you should think about before we kind of start picking them apart? You can download that at peteratiamd.com forward slash members.
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In this “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter goes into depth on the topic of brain health, starting with how Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed, the significance of blood-based biomarkers in diagnosis, and what the various APOE gene variants mean in terms of a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Next, Peter discusses the various strategies for preventing Alzheimer's disease and neurodegeneration. He touches briefly on exercise as a potent tool, but focuses more on lesser-known factors that could impact brain health, such as nutrition supplementation, lipid management, brain games, sauna, oral health, hearing loss, and more.
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We discuss:
- Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease [2:45];
- Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, the C2N test, and other tools for diagnosis [7:30];
- Genetic component of Alzheimer’s disease: genes that confer risk [12:45];
- Understanding your APOE status and why it’s important to know [17:15];
- The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and who is at higher risk [21:15];
- Can the risk of Alzheimer’s disease be decreased with behavioral changes? [24:15];
- Overview of modifiable behaviors that potentially play a role in risk reduction of neurodegeneration [30:15];
- Things that clearly impact brain health: smoking, alcohol, sleep, head injuries, blood pressure, and more [34:15];
- How nutrition impacts brain health: common diets, metabolic health, energy balance, and more [46:15];
- Comparing common diets: data showing the association between the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and specific diets [59:45];
- Supplements: EPA and DHA, vitamin D, and B vitamins [1:13:00];
- Supplements: theracurmin, cocoa flavonols, and magnesium L-threonate [1:25:15];
- Impact of exercise on brain health, minimum effective dose, and the most important types of exercise [1:33:00];
- Challenging the mind with brain games—does it impact neurodegeneration? [1:43:00];
- The data on sauna and brain health [1:49:45];
- Oral health and its association with brain health [1:52:45];
- How reducing lipids can improve brain health and prevent neurodegeneration [1:55:30];
- The potential impact of hearing loss on brain health and neurodegeneration [2:04:30]; and
- More.
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