Show 1451: Rethinking Dementia: Is What We Believed about Alzheimer’s Wrong?

For decades, neurologists and pharmaceutical firms have been focused on amyloid plaque building up in the brains as the cause of Alzheimer disease. Drug companies have developed compounds to remove that plaque, and they have been successful. There are medicines, notably lecanemab and donanemab, that reduce the amount of amyloid plaque visible on a scan. They may also slow the rate of cognitive decline somewhat.  But they may not make a substantial difference in problems patients and their families care most about–confusion, memory loss, difficulty making decisions. Is it time for us to start rethinking dementia?

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How Should We Be Rethinking Dementia?

America is aging. Baby boomers, who make up a disproportionately large segment of the population, will soon be turning 80. That could be bad news as we imagine an enormous number of people disabled by dementia. There is a silver lining to that cloud, though. Compared to individuals born in the 1920s and 1930s, those born in the 1940s and 1950s have a lower risk overall of Alzheimer disease and other types of dementia (JAMA, May 13, 2025). Are there steps we can all take to reduce our risk of dementia even further?

The Disappointing Results of Plaque-Removing Drugs:

As we mentioned above, the FDA approved lecanemab (Leqembi) and donanemab (Kisunla) to treat Alzheimer disease (AD) because they reduce plaque in the brain. Family members may have had high hopes, but the only impact these drugs have on cognition is a slight slowing of the inexorable decline. They are, moreover, quite pricey and the scans to monitor potentially serious side effects are also expensive. Some people on these meds experience brain swelling or hemorrhage. Over the long term, they may be associated with whole brain shrinkage, although they seem to spare the hippocampus, known as the memory center. None of those reactions is desirable

What Else Can We Do to Reduce Our Risk of AD?

One approach we might consider as we start rethinking dementia is low-dose lithium. Lithium has long been used to treat bipolar disorder, but the doses used are large and can trigger adverse consequences, especially for kidney function. New research has shown that people with mild cognitive impairment, a possible precursor to AD, have low levels of lithium in their brains (Nature, Sep. 2025).  Studies in mice show that low lithium levels seem to lead to amyloid plaque and tau accumulation. These are signatures of Alzheimer disease. Can we prevent or reverse this with low-dose lithium, using a nontoxic formulation? That remains to be tested in a randomized clinical trial. Dr. Doraiswamy emphasizes that no one should be taking lithium, even at low doses, outside the context of a controlled study. Don’t try this at home.

Rethinking Dementia May Mean Vaccines:

An impressive body of epidemiological evidence links vaccination against influenza or shingles to a reduced risk for dementia. A natural experiment in Wales (Nature, May 2025) and another in Australia (JAMA, June 17, 2025) have confirmed the causal connection. Vaccination against shingles significantly reduces the chance of developing AD later. However, results from a trial of an antiviral medication were presented at a recent conference. Unfortunately, the medicine was not effective in preventing AD. Consequently, this strategy may not be as promising as we would like.

People who get multiple vaccinations against the flu get a measure of protection from dementia, however (Age and Ageing, July 1, 2025). Another natural experiment in East and West Germany demonstrated that the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis unexpectedly led to “lower incidence of lymphomas and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in cohorts immunized by BCG compared to those non-immunized by this vaccine” (Frontiers in Pediatrics, July 31, 2025). There is also tantalizing evidence that people treated with BCG for bladder cancer are less likely to develop AD (PLoS One, Nov. 7, 2019).

What Is Amyloid Plaque Doing in the Brain?

Right from the start in 1906, when Dr. Alois Alzheimer described the condition, he flagged amyloid plaque in the brain as a distinctive feature. No wonder people thought of it as the cause of the disease. More recently, though, scientists have been rethinking dementia. They have found that beta amyloid has antimicrobial activity. Might the buildup of plaque indicate an infectious process? We still don’t know for sure, but it seems possible.

Rethinking Dementia and Diet:

Until now, scientists studying AD have paid very little attention to specific components of diet. They did not have much evidence that what we eat affects our risk for cognitive decline. There have been only a few large randomized clinical trials of diet. A recent trial of the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay [MIND] diet) was disappointing. So far, none has lasted long enough to tell whether dietary changes in midlife might help prevent dementia. That said, Dr. Doraiswamy suggests that the Mediterranean diet has some supporting evidence. After all, what is good for the heart is also good for the brain.

Physical Activity and the Risk of Dementia:

There is some evidence that aerobic exercise can help reduce your chance of an AD diagnosis. Recent research shows that people who consistently rack up 5,000 to 7,500 steps a day are much less likely to develop dementia than those who are sedentary (Nature Medicine, Nov. 3, 2025). Likewise, those who habitually walk at least 15 minutes at a time during the day appear to be somewhat protected from cognitive decline. These results are from observational studies, however. Randomized clinical trials of movement to reduce the chance of dementia have not found benefits for memory. Executive function may improve, though. Dr. Doraiswamy cautions, in addition, that we should avoid sports that increase the risk for concussion or head trauma such as boxing, mixed martial arts, football or even soccer. He generally recommends walking for seniors because it offers aerobic physical activity with minimal risk of head injury.

In fact, he suggests a walking book club would be ideal. Not only do you get the body in motion, you engage the brain and practice social connection. All of these can be helpful in keeping our brains in shape. Dr. Doraiswamy’s research shows solving crossword puzzles can improve their cognitive function over the course of more than a year (International Journal of Clinical Trials, April-June 2025). This could be an enjoyable approach to rethinking dementia and its prevention.

Are There Drugs We Should Avoid?

Certain medications work by interfering with acetylcholine, a crucial neurochemical. Such anticholinergic drugs, such as many urologists prescribe to treat overactive bladder, can impair cognition. One extremely common and potent anticholinergic is readily available without a prescription. Millions of seniors take it every night in the form of Tylenol PM, Advil PM or some other PM pain reliever. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) makes people feel sleepy, so people often swallow it thinking that getting a good night’s sleep will help them stay sharp. Everyone concerned about preventing dementia should check with prescribers and pharmacists about all the drugs they take, including OTC pills. Reducing the anticholinergic burden is an important step toward protecting the brain.

This Week’s Guest:

Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, FRCP, is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is Director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program in the Department of Psychiatry  and a Professor in Medicine at Duke University Medical School. He is a faculty network member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

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Transcript of Show 1451:

A transcript of this show was created using automated speech-to-text software (AI-powered transcription), then carefully reviewed and edited for clarity. While we’ve done our best to ensure both readability and accuracy, please keep in mind that some mistakes may remain. If you have any questions regarding the content of this show, we encourage you to review the original audio recording. This transcript is copyrighted material, all rights reserved. No part of this transcript may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission.

Joe

00:00-00:01

I’m Joe Graedon.

Terry

00:01-00:05

And I’m Terry Graedon. Welcome to this podcast of The People’s Pharmacy.

Joe

00:06-00:27

You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at peoplespharmacy.com. The CDC says nearly 7 million people in the U.S. currently have Alzheimer’s disease. How can we prevent it? This is The People’s Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Graedon.

Terry

00:34-00:44

Medications the FDA approved in the last few years have been disappointing. They are pricey, risky, and not very effective against Alzheimer’s disease.

Joe

00:45-00:52

What else can we do to lower our chances of developing dementia? How could low-dose lithium be helpful?

Terry

00:53-01:02

Could a vaccine against shingles help delay cognitive decline? What about diet and exercise? How many steps do we need every day to keep our brains healthy?

Joe

01:03-01:10

Coming up on The People’s Pharmacy, Rethinking dementia: Is what we believe all wrong?

Terry

01:14-02:42

In The People’s Pharmacy health headlines, scientists have long suspected that physical activity might help reduce the risk for dementia. Now they have proof, and it doesn’t take that much effort.

A study published in Nature Medicine followed nearly 300 older Americans for almost 14 years. None of them had measurable cognitive problems at the start of the study. They wore pedometers to measure the number of steps they took. All the participants took tests to assess their problem-solving skills and memory at several points during the study.

The researchers also scanned their brains to evaluate their levels of amyloid and tau. Over the course of the study, people who took at least 5,000 steps a day were significantly less likely than sedentary seniors to develop Alzheimer’s disease. People with relatively high levels of amyloid at the outset benefited most, but not because amyloid levels changed.

Instead, more active people had significantly less tau accumulation, accounting for the benefits seen. Aiming for 5,000 to 7,500 steps daily is something most older people can manage to reduce their chance of cognitive and functional decline. According to the researchers, that level of activity slowed cognitive decline by the equivalent of seven years.

Joe

02:43-03:33

Exercise may also be beneficial for people with knee osteoarthritis. According to the CDC, over 30 million Americans have some degree of pain, stiffness, and swelling in their joints. Nearly half have some discomfort in their knees.

A systematic review in the BMJ analyzed over 200 studies and concluded that in patients with knee osteoarthritis, aerobic exercise is likely the most beneficial exercise modality for improving pain, function, gait performance, and quality of life with moderate certainty. The authors go on to specify that patients should engage regularly in structured aerobic activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming to optimize symptom management.

Terry

03:34-04:23

Many people take melatonin as a supplement to help them sleep. This hormone, which is available without a prescription, has been widely seen as innocuous, even if it doesn’t ward off insomnia. Now researchers are taking a new look at the supplement.

An analysis of health records from several different countries identified some 65,000 people taking melatonin for at least a year. In a span of five years, 3,000 melatonin users were diagnosed with heart failure. That comes to about 4.6%, compared to 2.7% of non-users. The findings have been presented at the American Heart Association scientific sessions and have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Joe

04:24-05:09

Treating diabetes with a GLP-1 agonist seems to protect the heart. Previous research has found benefit with the use of injectable semaglutide sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy.

A new study demonstrates that the same semaglutide in pill form sold under the brand name Rybelsus also prevents cardiovascular complications. A sub-analysis of the SELECT trial found that the benefits of semaglutide do not depend upon weight loss. Even people who did not lose significant weight had lower risks of heart attacks and strokes. A decrease in weight size, however, was associated with the protective cardiovascular effect.

Terry

05:10-06:17

Researchers have been considering how to keep people with prediabetes from developing the full-blown metabolic disorder. In a new study published in JAMA, investigators assigned over 300 participants to either an artificial intelligence-powered diabetes prevention program or a human-coach-led similar prevention program.

The AI-powered invention involved a mobile app and a Bluetooth-powered digital scale. The goal was to get the volunteers to HbA1c below 6.5%. Roughly 32% of the participants in each group achieved the goal. The researchers concluded no significant difference between the two programs. And that’s the health news from the People’s Pharmacy this week. Welcome to The People’s Pharmacy. I’m Terry Graedon.

Joe

06:17-06:31

And I’m Joe Graedon. As America ages, people worry about their health. Of course, they think of heart disease and cancer, the two biggest killers, but many people are even more afraid of dementia.

Terry

06:31-06:54

Today, we’re discussing how we can treat or possibly even prevent memory loss. What should we know about the drugs that FDA has recently approved to clear amyloid plaque out of our brains? Are there non-drug approaches that might reduce our risk for dementia in the first place? Is what we believed about Alzheimer’s wrong?

Joe

06:54-07:23

Our guest today is an outstanding researcher in the field of cognitive decline. Dr. Murali Doraiswamy is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He’s the director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program and a professor in medicine at Duke University Medical School. He’s a member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. Dr. Doraiswamy is a senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development.

Terry

07:24-07:28

Welcome back to The People’s Pharmacy, Dr. Murali Doraiswamy.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

07:29-07:30

Thank you. Pleasure to be here always.

Joe

07:31-08:01

Dr. Doraiswamy, I have to tell you, you are a specialist in the brain, especially neurocognitive disorders, whatever that means. But basically, you’re trying to figure out, A, what causes dementia and then what to do about it.

But before we get into that really important subject, I would love to get your sense of how serious is this problem? It seems like America is getting older fast.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

08:01-08:02

Absolutely.

Joe

08:02-08:04

What does that mean for society?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

08:05-08:57

Well, it’s not good news. As we get older, the risk for dementia disproportionately increases, so there’s fears of what we call a silver tsunami. So the original projections were that the number of cases of dementia, which is somewhere around 6 to 7 million today, might triple over the next 20, 25 years.

But there’s a sliver of good news. We recently pointed out that there was an error in the projections. With consecutive birth cohorts, we’re getting healthier. Our cardiovascular risks are declining. Some of our risks for Alzheimer’s are also declining, but new risks may be emerging, such as obesity, diabetes, etc.

But we believe the rate of increase over the next 20, 25 years is not going to be as high as feared, but it’s still going to go up. So we have to be very, very vigilant and invest in research.

Terry

08:57-09:05

So it goes up in part just because there are so many more older people as the baby boomer moves into its 80s.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

09:05-09:06

Correct.

Terry

09:05-09:08

And later, even more.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

09:08-09:09

Correct.

Terry

09:09-09:16

But we baby boomers are not quite as likely as our parents or our grandparents were to develop dementia.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

09:17-09:28

Absolutely. I think the risk for those born, like, say, in the 1920s or 30s was far higher than the risk for those born, say, 10, 20 years later for a variety of reasons.

Joe

09:29-09:47

Now, Dr. Doraiswamy, the drug companies have seen a pot of gold. I mean, when you talk about 7, 10, 15 million Americans with this devastating condition called dementia, they go, well, let’s get some new drugs out there.

Terry

09:48-09:49

We’re all for that, right?

Joe

09:50-09:51

Absolutely.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

09:51-09:52

100% We need it.

Joe

09:51-10:09

We’re desperate, desperate for something that really, really works. They’ve been all in on amyloid: amyloid being the cause, and if we could just get amyloid out of the brain, problem solved. It hasn’t worked that way, has it?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

10:09-10:31

It hasn’t, unfortunately. Probably about 30 to 40 failed trials. And for the first time, we have two drugs that were efficacious in clinical trials, but the degree of benefit is extremely small, and they come with a lot of risks. So we still haven’t achieved drugs that are highly efficacious and safe.

Terry

10:31-10:38

So let’s talk a little bit more about these medications. They are effective at removing amyloid plaque from the brain, correct?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

10:38-10:55

Correct. Very effective. Almost 70, 80, 90% clearance to the point where some people’s brains are free of amyloid. Technically, if you base it on the definition that you have to have amyloid to have Alzheimer’s, they would have essentially have been cured of Alzheimer’s pathologically, but nothing has improved in their cognition.

Terry

10:56-11:00

So their brains are beautiful, but they’re still demented.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

11:00-11:00

Correct.

Terry

11:01-11:08

They still can’t do the things that ordinary people can and want to do.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

11:08-11:35

Absolutely. So there are two ways of interpreting this. The skeptic would say this flatly disproves the amyloid hypothesis because if you cannot show that removing amyloid produces an improvement in cognition or slows the degeneration of the brain or slows the deterioration of cognition, then the hypothesis is wrong.

But those who support the hypothesis say, oh, we’re giving these drugs too late. Had we given the drugs a lot earlier before the brain had been damaged, we might have seen a greater benefit.

Terry

11:37-11:43

Now, there was a trial, wasn’t there, in which they gave, which one? Donanemab? Lecanemab?

Joe

11:44-11:55

Well, it was one of the MABs, and they said, even before people really have symptoms, they’re just at potential risk, we’re going to start giving the drug early, early.

Terry

11:56-11:57

And it was a big disappointment.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

11:58-11:59

Yes, it was.

Joe

12:00-12:14

So at the moment, let’s just say that the amyloid hypothesis hasn’t panned out the way we would have hoped if these drugs worked. What about side effects? Because the FDA has now issued some new cautions.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

12:16-13:25

So the amyloid drugs have some very serious side effects. For the vast majority of people, fortunately, our tolerance levels are high. So they may just have infusion reactions. These drugs are given by infusion. We just reported a case that’s coming out this week on somebody who had severe urinary incontinence, almost permanent urinary incontinence as a result of one of these infusions. The most serious side effects are fortunately somewhat rare, even though we don’t know the exact rate at which they occur.

The two most serious side effects are bleeding in the brain. They either take the form of what we call macrohemorrhages, means overt strokes, leading to serious clinical symptoms, or microhemorrhages, meaning small ditzels in the brain, which are areas of like ruptured blood vessels. We don’t exactly know what the consequences are. They may have cognitive symptoms, but in many of these people, they’re silent because we’re not testing them serially. And then the second type of side effect is called edema or swelling of the brain. And there have been several deaths. The FDA recently tightened the warnings because of six deaths.

Terry

13:25-13:27

How did they tighten the warnings?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

13:27-14:07

They require more frequent MRI scans to monitor the brain and at earlier time points to see if someone’s having these areas of small bleeding or edema. And if you spot those, then you’re supposed to either lower the dose, stop the dose temporarily till the person gets better.

But the reality is we don’t know what to do. We don’t know when a bleed has totally gone away because the MRI only picks up like really, it’s a very crude indicator of if the brain has fully recovered from a bleed. And in many of these cases, probably the prudent thing to do is to stop their infusions and not treat them. We don’t have a good way of also predicting who is going to get it. That’s the other thing we’re shooting in the dark.

Joe

14:07-14:27

These are pricey drugs. They cost twenty-some-thousand dollars, but the scans are also expensive. So these PET scans, which have to be done before you start treatment, and now the FDA is saying during treatment just to make sure something bad isn’t happening, the costs start to really add up.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

14:27-14:44

Well, the costs definitely add up. Just to clarify, yes, the PET scans only need to be done before treatment to ensure that they have plaque buildup in the brain. The monitoring for bleeding is done using regular MRI scans. They’re not done using PET scans.

Joe

14:44-14:45

But MRIs are not cheap.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

14:45-14:51

They’re not cheap, and the average person has to have four, five, six MRI scans. That adds up quite dramatically.

Joe

14:52-15:17

So let’s switch gears for a moment because clearly the anti-amyloid drugs have not been a revolution, and they do have side effects. There have been some new studies that are quite fascinating.

And I know that you have been looking at lithium, not just for a few weeks or months or years, but going way back. Tell us what is lithium and why are you paying attention to this mineral?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

15:18-16:40

Yeah. So, you know, lithium is absolutely fascinating. And, you know, America’s fascination with lithium goes back almost 80, 90 years, I think.

So lithium, you know, for people who don’t know, is a metal, and it’s a very soft metal, like cheese that can be cut. It’s found in almost every body tissue. It’s found in rocks. It’s found in lots of water sources.

Many of us are consuming large amounts of lithium without even knowing it. In fact, I just read an article that in Chile, South America, which is a very rich source of lithium batteries, everyone’s fighting for lithium batteries from there. The average person gets almost five or six times more lithium than, say, the average American. Almost at sub-therapeutic medical doses, that’s what that person in Chile is getting.

So fascination with lithium started around 1940s when it was discovered that lithium can calm the brain and can be a useful treatment for people with manic depression, especially people who are very euphoric, very agitated, are hallucinating. It can calm them down. It was completely accidental discovery. And then America went crazy for lithium, and they started putting it in every soft drink imaginable. That’s how 7-Up came about, because one of the isotopes of lithium exists. 7-Lithium is the molecular isotope, and so 7-Up is lithiated lime soda.

Joe

16:40-16:41

But no more.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

16:42-16:57

No more. Well, yes, more, because every water contains lithium. So, yes, it just has very small amounts, but not the slightly bigger amounts that it used to contain. Coca-Cola used to have, there was a version of Coke that had lithium, and doctors used to prescribe it for all kinds of conditions.

Joe

16:57-17:01

So, Coca-Cola had cocaine and lithium?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

17:01-17:13

Well, okay, I don’t know about the, let’s skip the cocaine part. There was a version of cola with lithium marketed by that company. It was not called Coca-Cola, but it was a lithiated cola.

Joe

17:15-17:32

So we’ve had a lot of experience. We just have about 30 seconds before we go to the break. There certainly is a lot of data to suggest that very high doses can be extremely helpful for people with manic depression, or what we now call bipolar disorder.

Terry

17:32-17:33

But also toxic.

Joe

17:34-17:55

Lots of side effects. And you can tell us more about those in a moment. Kidneys can be affected, a number of other organs. But low-dose lithium, that’s where all the excitement is right now. And when we come back from the break, let’s talk about the newest research. I think it was published in Nature, is that right?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

17:55-17:56

Correct.

Joe

17:56-18:00

Looking very promising, at least in an animal model.

Terry

18:01-18:11

You’re listening to Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program at Duke University School of Medicine.

Joe

18:11-18:19

After the break, we’ll learn more about lithium and its application against dementia. What are low doses of lithium compared to standard doses?

Terry

18:20-18:24

We’ve just alluded to a study published in Nature. Why are people so excited about it?

Joe

18:25-18:33

Is it a good idea for people to start taking low-dose lithium as a supplement, or do we need to wait for more definitive studies?

Terry

18:39-18:55

You’re listening to The People’s Pharmacy with Joe and Terry Graedon. Welcome back to The People’s Pharmacy. I’m Terry Graedon.

Joe

18:55-19:12

And I’m Joe Graedon.

Terry

19:12-19:27

Today, our topic is dementia. How can you reduce your risk of losing your memory? What can we do to keep our brains as healthy as possible as we age? Are there supplements that could be helpful or perhaps dietary choices?

Joe

19:28-20:00

To learn more about preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, we’re talking with Dr. Murali Doraiswamy. He’s professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He’s director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program and is a professor in medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. He’s a member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. Dr. Doraiswamy is a senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development.

Terry

20:01-20:13

Dr. Doraiswamy, we were just discussing lithium, and I’m hoping that you’ll be able to tell us about low-dose lithium and why it might be of interest against dementia.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

20:14-20:44

Low-dose lithium has been of great interest to researchers because observational studies, what we call as epidemiological studies, have shown that people who live around certain water sources that contain naturally high levels of lithium have reduced rates of suicide, reduced rates of drug abuse, and even potentially reduced rates of dementia.

So these suggest that it might have therapeutic effects at sub-threshold doses, not the high doses we use to treat bipolar depression.

Joe

20:44-20:55

And let’s get some sense because as a psychiatrist, you are prescribing big doses. What do we mean when we say big for people who have bipolar disorder?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

20:56-21:29

So, lihtium as lithium carbonate is usually given two or three times a day. So, we might give somebody 900 milligrams, 1,200 milligrams a day. So, a lower dose may be something a fifth of that or even lower.

One of the problems has been that these forms of lithium that we use to treat psychiatric illness don’t get into the body and the brain. They’re not as bioabsorbable. So we needed different formulations of lithium that are more easily absorbed at lower doses so that they also don’t produce the same side effects.

Joe

21:29-21:36

So tell us about this study in Nature and why people have gotten very excited.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

21:36-22:43

So we’ve known about the links between metals in the brain and dementia for a long time, right? We originally thought it came from pots and pans. And then in the 90s, there were links between iron, copper, zinc, and Alzheimer’s disease. But more recently, there’s been a lot of excitement about lithium being an essential nutrient in the brain. And these researchers, it was a tour de force, their paper in Nature.

They first showed that deficiency of lithium resulted in buildup of Alzheimer type pathology. The second thing they showed was that replacing or correcting that deficiency with a special form of lithium that is available over the counter that can be given in low doses that is easily bio-absorbable reversed some of those deficits. And which form is that? It’s called lithium orotate. And this is available over the counter. It’s, you know, you can give it at maybe like a fifth or a fifth of the dose that you would give and it’s, anyone can buy it, but it’s not recommended, of course, for manic depression.

Joe

22:43-22:56

Right. But the side effects presumably would be much lower if you’re only taking, you know, two or three milligrams or five or 10 milligrams compared to 800 milligrams or in some cases even 1800 milligrams.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

22:56-23:31

Correct. Now, of course, where you’re talking about the dose of elemental lithium, which has to be, which is what you’re talking about, when you eventually combine it as a salt, the dose becomes much higher, even for lithium orotated can be 100 milligrams, for example.

So yes, the presumption and the hope is that the side effects are much lower and the tolerability is much greater because you want to treat someone with, say, at risk for dementia, you could be treating them for 10 years, 15 years. So you want a drug that’s really safe for an older person to take.

Joe

23:31-23:33

Now, we need clinical trials.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

23:33-23:33

Correct.

Joe

23:34-23:39

Nobody can patent lithium. It’s out there. Who’s going to do the study?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

23:39-24:10

There are actually companies that have come up with proprietary formulations of synthetic lithium that’s combined with other ingredients. So you can patent those versions. And, of course, if they do the study and the study is successful, somebody may say, well, why not just take the cheap version that’s available for pennies? But so the short answer is, yes, there are studies being done. There’s at least one company I know that has a proprietary formulation. And then government agencies can always fund studies of the generic version of lithium, which I hope that they do.

Joe

24:10-24:11

That would be wonderful.

Terry

24:11-24:20

It seems that it might be very tempting for people to start taking low-dose lithium on their own, but it sounds as though that might be premature.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

24:21-24:33

I think it’s completely premature because we have more than 200 drugs to cure Alzheimer’s in mice, but none of them have worked so far, including the amyloid antibodies that are currently on the market.

Joe

24:33-24:37

Let’s talk about another area that’s fascinating: vaccines.

Terry

24:38-25:03

Well, we have seen a couple of studies now that demonstrate that specifically the shingles vaccine, and it wasn’t the newest shingles vaccine, the Shingrix, but rather the previous iteration, Zostavax, that quite significantly lowered the risk of people coming down with dementia. Can you tell us about that, please?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

25:03-26:41

Yeah, it’s a very plausible study, and I’m very excited about it. I truly believe that there is an infectious particle that probably underlies dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease. We know, for example, syphilis can cause a type of dementia.

We know HIV, the AIDS virus, can cause a type of dementia. We know herpes encephalitis, which is a type of herpes virus that goes and attacks the memory centers in the brain. So it’s completely plausible that herpes zoster virus may be involved in Alzheimer’s.

So this study that was done in the United Kingdom and one in Taiwan, both of which are quite convincing, again, amazing studies. They looked at a whole bunch of different explanations as to why someone getting the Shingrix vaccine had a lower risk for dementia. And they ruled out many of the spurious epiphenomenon type of causes.

They were able to show that these people had a lower risk than those who had gotten a previous version of the vaccine, which was not the same, and also people who were unvaccinated. And they showed that they were not due to other explanations, such as simply getting better health care or leading healthier lives. So, I think it’s plausible. It still has to be demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial, but that’s going to prove very difficult because how do you stop someone in a placebo arm for three or four years from not getting a zoster vaccine? It’s possible, but I’m hoping that someone will do such a trial.

Joe

26:41-27:20

Now, it’s not just Zoster, as you refer to it. We’re talking here about the virus that causes chicken pox and shingles. But there are some studies that suggest that BCG, which is a really old vaccine, probably one of the very first vaccines ever developed, might be beneficial as well.

And there’s just something new that’s come out with RSV vaccine. So give us this sense of infections and dementia and vaccines. It seems like a whole new way of thinking about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

27:20-29:01

It is. If you look at the pathology in the Alzheimer’s brain, there are two types of pathology, the plaques and tangles. And both seem to propagate in the brain as though they were like infectious particles. The only thing different about Alzheimer’s, unlike, say, tuberculosis, You don’t catch it by standing next to someone and breathing the air that they are breathing or, you know, by having sex with that individual.

You don’t catch it. It’s transmitted and propagates internally. We know that brain-specific viruses can hide in nerve cell ganglions for long periods of time and then suddenly get reactivated. We’ve known that about mad cow disease, for example. So could Alzheimer’s be caused by a slow-growing virus like that? It’s entirely possible.

Last month at a conference, they just presented the results of a drug against herpes simplex virus, valacyclovir, and that study was negative. It was a randomized trial. There was similar evidence suggesting that people who took valacyclovir may have a lower risk, but in the randomized trial, it did not prove effective.

Now, the BCG for bladder cancer, now BCG is used against tuberculosis traditionally, but in this case, it’s infused locally into the bladder to stimulate the immune system to attack cancer cells. And they found that people with bladder cancer who had received BCG had a much lower risk of developing dementia.

So again, this is all very promising approaches. I’m hopeful that we can develop a vaccine to stimulate innate immunity to fight a viral etiology. We’re not there yet, but I think that’s where the cure is going to come from.

Joe

29:02-29:03

Terry, let’s talk about diet.

Terry

29:04-29:05

Well, let’s do it.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

29:04-29:26

By the way, there is also a rich body of work suggesting that amyloid builds up in the brain and it’s antiviral and antibacterial, that it’s there not so much as the cause of the disease, but as a defense mechanism in the brain. That somehow this defense mechanism goes awry and overreacts and causes a friendly fire.

Joe

29:26-29:30

So trying to get rid of amyloid in the long run.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

29:30-29:31

Might be friendly fire.

Joe

29:32-29:37

Right. It might be a mistake. So we’ve been hearing about the Mediterranean diet.

Terry

29:38-30:38

Yes. There was a recent study showing that the closer people come to following, these are American people. This is the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the Nurses Health Study. So many, many people followed for three decades.

And the researchers at Harvard who run this study check in with these people every couple years to say, how’s your health? And by the way, what are you eating? Fill out this very detailed dietary questionnaire for us. So what they have just recently published shows that people who come closest to following a Mediterranean diet, even though they’re living in Boston or Cincinnati or wherever they might happen to be, they’re not in the Mediterranean, they’re here in the U.S., those folks are less likely to be diagnosed with dementia. What can you tell us about diet and dementia?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

30:38-32:00

Yeah, I’m not surprised by that finding. You know, the old adage, what’s good for the heart is good for the brain is true here for dementia as well. I believe Alzheimer’s and all types of dementias have a very strong vascular contribution. If you have blockages in your blood vessels, you’re much more likely to be diagnosed with dementia and cognitive impairment.

So anything you can do to clear atherosclerotic plaques from building up in your blood vessels helps. And the Mediterranean diet has been shown to help in that regard, both in terms of body weight in terms of your risk for diabetes, in terms of your risk for hypertension, in terms of your risk for high cholesterol levels.

Now, there is a slight twist there. There are two newer trials. There’s a large randomized trial of something called the MIND diet. The MIND diet is a version of the Mediterranean diet, but also includes components of the DASH diet, which is used to treat hypertension. So it’s kind of a hybrid. That large randomized trial did not find a protective benefit, even though a number of epidemiological studies had shown that.

And more recently, an even larger trial called the POINTER study was just published in JAMA last year, and they found that combining the MIND diet with an active social lifestyle and aerobic exercise three or four times a week does help. It adds an extra one to two years of your cognitive longevity.

Terry

32:00-32:03

So it can delay the onset of dementia.

Joe

32:04-32:14

So let’s talk about exercise because people always ask us, well, what should I do for good health? And the one thing that always seems to stand out is exercise.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

32:16-33:00

Yes. A little bit of exercise is great, [a] moderate amount. Too much is probably not good. And let me tell you, so the best exercise I recommend for people is a walking book club because you want to exercise your body and your brain. And you want to exercise at a level that, you know, is not stressful for your body.

So, you know, the average 75-year-old, I’m not going to encourage them to run on a treadmill and then they slip one day and fall and break their hip or something. And there goes exercise for the next two years. So, yes, aerobic, moderate aerobic activity three to four times a week is very important. But also exercising your brain is equally important through cognitive training.

Joe

32:58-33:03

Well, let’s talk about your research and crossword puzzles.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

33:03-33:04

Yes.

Joe

33:04-33:06

Exercising your brain.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

33:06-34:23

Thank you. So, you know, the old thinking was that the brain in older ages cannot be changed. It doesn’t have neuroplasticity is the term we use to see if the brain can change and grow. And studies have shown that the older brain, the aging brain, retains its capacity to change. So then the question is, what is the best kind of exercise?

Should we do these computerized video games where you’re, you know, like paying a monthly subscription and doing, you know, sitting in front of the computer? Or do you do more natural things that you, you know, been doing for a long time, like a hundred-year-old pastime, like crossword puzzles or bridge or, you know, Sudoku or whatever.

So we did this randomized trial, and we found that if you already had memory impairment, we’re not talking about normal older people with healthy cognitive abilities. If you already had mild cognitive impairment, then doing something like bridge or crossword puzzles is better than playing video games because a lot of people struggle with the computer. They struggle with learning how these games play, and they’re not technologically savvy.

And we found crossword puzzles actually beat those computerized video games. Now we’re doing a second study to see what is the ideal dose of crossword puzzles.

Terry

34:23-34:24

Oh, I like it.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

34:24-34:40

Do we do it four times a week? Do we do it just once a week? Do we do the Monday New York Times, which is easy, or the Thursday New York Times puzzle, which is challenging? So we’re trying to understand, you know, how do we actually scale it so that people don’t quit?

Terry

34:40-35:10

Well, I think that’s a very interesting concept because we know that if you want to build muscle. In physical exercise, you need to take it right up to the limit and then keep expanding your limit a little bit.

So if you could walk 15 minutes the first day, you might then the next week want to be walking 20 or 25 minutes. Is the same thing hold for cognitive exercise?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

35:11-35:39

Yes, beautifully put, because you have to personalize it also for each individual, right? Because some people come with an eighth grade education and some people come with a PhD degree. So the crossword puzzle is not the same. How do you design the right words for that individual so that it challenges them and they continue to learn and grow?

So that’s why we’re doing it through the computer, where the computer has an algorithm that automatically selects the right words and phrases based on their previous crossword puzzle completion and makes it challenging the next time around.

Terry

35:40-35:51

Well, I know my mother loved doing the crossword puzzle, and she hoped that it would keep her from getting dementia. Sadly, she did develop dementia at the end of her life, but she was also quite old.

Joe

35:52-36:05

Well, she was in her mid-90s, and she did very well in her early 90s. So maybe it was the crossword puzzles, maybe it was her excellent diet, maybe it was her exercise. It’s a package, isn’t it?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

36:05-36:05

100%.

Joe

36:05-36:09

It’s all these things together not just one single thing.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

36:05-36:15

Correct, we call it multi-domain intervention. So yes, it’s the package.

Terry

36:15-36:40

You’re listening to Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, professor of psychiatry and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program at Duke University School of Medicine. He’s a professor in medicine and a faculty network member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. Dr. Doraiswamy is also an affiliate in the Duke Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine.

Joe

36:41-36:52

You know, Terry, it’s not just the package. It’s also the genes. And, you know, your dad was not a big crossword puzzle guy, but he lived into his late 90s as well.

Terry

36:52-36:55

He did. And for much of that time, his brain was good.

Joe

36:56-37:04

We’ve just discussed how exercise benefits the brain. After the break, we’ll find out about exercise that might be bad for our brains.

Terry

37:04-37:15

We always think about traumatic brain injury from football or boxing or soccer. But what about less obvious pursuits like tennis or pickleball?

Joe

37:15-37:21

There are medications that can be harmful as well. Anticholinergics have been linked with cognitive difficulties.

Terry

37:22-37:31

I think that’s why we discourage people from long-term use of PM pain medicines or the antihistamine diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl

Joe

37:32-37:34

Do sleeping pills increase the risk of dementia?

Terry

37:39-37:42

You’re listening to The People’s Pharmacy with Joe and Terry Graedon.

Joe

37:52-37:54

Welcome back to The People’s Pharmacy. I’m Joe Graedon.

Terry

37:55-38:14

And I’m Terry Graedon.

Joe

38:15-38:47

Recently, a study published in Nature Medicine showed that older people who are more physically active have less cognitive and physical decline. That held even for those who already had amyloid buildup in their brains, apparent on scans.

The amount of physical activity wasn’t extreme. People took at least 5,000 steps a day to 7,500 steps. The amyloid in their brains didn’t change, but with that activity, they had less tau accumulation.

Terry

38:49-39:05

Walking seems like a pretty safe activity, as long as we can manage it without risking a fall. Some other physical activities may be riskier for the brain. We’ll find out about the dangers of football or soccer, in which there are repeated blows to the head.

Joe

39:06-39:23

In addition to non-drug approaches to reducing the likelihood of dementia, we should also look at drugs. In particular, which drugs should we avoid? You might be surprised how many common medications may impact the brain.

Terry

39:23-39:49

Our guest is Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is Director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program and a Professor in Medicine at Duke University Medical School. He’s a member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. Dr. Doraiswamy is a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development.

Joe

39:51-40:25

Dr. Doraiswamy, we’ve been talking about the benefits of exercise, among other things, for the brain. But there are some things that might be bad for the brain when it comes to exercise. And I’m thinking about football for younger kids, even with a helmet on. I’m thinking about soccer and heading the ball. I’m thinking about boxing, especially, or any place where you might injure your brain. It just doesn’t seem like such a great idea. What does the science say?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

40:26-41:40

I think you’re absolutely right, because we don’t have any way to grow new brain cells once the brain’s been damaged, and we don’t convey that information with enough urgency to our children and athletes, frankly.

So I would say boxing and mixed martial arts are obviously the most dangerous. It’s a well-known phenomenon called dementia pugilistica, where virtually a very high proportion of boxers end up with either Parkinson’s or some form of dementia later in life. The same, I think, the frequency is not as high with soccer and with American football.

But still, people who have had multiple concussions definitely have a higher risk for a type of dementia that’s caused by a traumatic brain injury. And we don’t have a cure or a treatment for it. So 100%, I would recommend wear a helmet. Protect your head. You know, try to avoid high-risk sports. Even bicycling without a helmet, if you press the brake in the wrong place, you can do a cartwheel and fall over and hit your head.

So you have to be really careful. And that’s another reason why I recommend walking for seniors.

Joe

41:41-41:42

I’m thinking tennis.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

41:43-42:17

Tennis is fabulous sport. You know, of course, tennis, you can have other kinds of injuries and, you know, but tennis is perfect. I think for a senior pickleball to me, especially if you can move from start with doubles playing, you know, gently and then move to singles and then, you know, maybe move from there to paddle or something like that.

Because they’re more likely to engage and persist with it rather than tennis. If you’re starting late in life, it’s really hard. Now, ultramarathons is another. There’s some new findings suggesting that if you do ultramarathons, the shrinkage of the brain.

Terry

42:18-42:22

So you’d say don’t do an ultramarathon.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

42:23-42:39

Well, I mean, do it once in a while. It’s okay. Like it would be like going on a binge drinking episode once. You’ve got to do it in college as a rite of passage maybe to run the New York Marathon. So I’m not telling anyone don’t do it, but don’t do it super regularly because it’s a stressful experience for your body.

Joe

42:40-43:13

I’d like to ask you about medications because we’ve talked about some of the medications that have been developed for dealing with Alzheimer’s. They haven’t been very effective, but we have a whole slew of drugs, some of which are available over the counter, that might not be good for the brain.

So perhaps you could start with what we call anticholinergics. What are they and why might they be deleterious?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

43:14-44:29

Sure. You know, anticholinergics are called that because they block the actions of a system in the brain called the cholinergic system. The cholinergic system is highly prevalent throughout the body. In fact, the vagus nerve is called the vagus because it’s a vagabond. It runs throughout the entire body. It controls your memory in your brain. It controls your breathing. It controls your heart. It controls the movement of your intestinal tract. It controls how often you’re constipated or how often you move bowels. It controls the contractions of your muscle, everything, right?

So, acetylcholine, the chemical that’s used by this system, is crucial for memory in the brain. And anticholinergic drugs, if they block this chemical, they impact your memory. Many of the older medicines, especially older antidepressants, some of the older, sleeping aids, medicines that are used by a urologist to control frequent urination. All of these can have friendly fire on the brain.

And so those are some examples of drugs that we, you know, it’s very hard because as a urologist, you want to give them to help a person with an enlarged prostate. But then as a brain doctor, you want to take people off these drugs to improve their memory. So there’s a constant tug of war. Let’s talk about antihistamines.

Joe

44:29-45:28

There is what we call the first generation antihistamines. One of them is chlorpheniramine, but the one that is so popular these days is diphenhydramine. It’s the ingredient in Benadryl. And it has become so popular in all of the over-the-counter PM pain medicines because it makes people drowsy. Anybody who’s taken Benadryl during the day will often complain, yeah, it makes me sluggish. I can’t think as clearly.

But now millions of people are taking Advil and Aleve and you name it with diphenhydramine. It’s a low dose, but it’s day in and day out. Because once you get into a sleeping pill cycle, you just take it in case I might not fall asleep tonight. So your thoughts about diphenhydramine? Well, I think you stated it pretty well.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

45:28-46:23

I think if you use it persistently for long periods of time, it’s going to have deleterious [inaudible]. And whether or not the effects are reversible still are not fully proven. But generally, we believe that with anticholinergic drugs, if you can stop using it, you can reverse the drugs for the most part. You may not get back to where you were. But while you’re taking them, you know, you’re probably performing at 15, 20% lower than what you ought to be.

So it could impact your driving, it could impact operating heavy machinery. If you’re taking an exam or a test or mission critical like a pilot, you know, you need to be extremely careful with these drugs. The same may also be true for some over-the-counter, you know, what shall I call it, herbal products that claim to mimic some of these antihistamines.

Terry

46:24-46:28

So perhaps you don’t want to be taking an herb that is supposed to put you to sleep.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

46:29-46:36

Yeah. We don’t know. I mean, it depends on the herb, but yes, some of them, yes. Like Valerian, for example, could potentially do the same thing.

Terry

46:38-46:52

And my question is about prescription sleeping pills. I know it’s been controversial. Do they or do they not increase a person’s risk for developing dementia? And perhaps you have some insight on that.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

46:53-47:55

I don’t have any additional insight. It still remains somewhat controversial and unproven. There’s a big range of sleeping pills, the newer sleeping pills versus the older ones. And of course, some of the antihistamines are used as sleeping pills as well. And some of the antidepressants are used as sleeping pills as well.

So I would say, you know, the evidence is mixed. We continue to have to use them because on the one hand, sleep we know is crucial for memory archival. Sleep we know is crucial for immunity. There’s even new evidence suggesting that if you don’t sleep well, then the clearance of some of the toxic products in the brain is impaired through the glymphatic channel. So you want people to sleep well. And we don’t have a great choice. Some of the newer sleeping pills that are more expensive, so people who can’t afford them need to take the older version. So it’s a constant battle.

Joe

47:56-48:21

There is a lot of controversy around the benzodiazepines, the benzos, anti-anxiety agents. Also, the proton pump inhibitors, the PPIs that you can now buy over-the-counter, omeprazole, esomeprazole, lansoprazole. And doctors are now prescribing the gabapentinoids, the gabapentin and the pregabalin for pain.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

48:21-48:22

Correct.

Joe

48:23-48:37

We want to caution people, never stop any of these drugs suddenly because it can precipitate something called discontinuation syndrome. That’s the sanitized version. It’s otherwise known as withdrawal.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

48:38-48:39

Sure.

Joe

48:39-48:51

So give us a quick understanding that even though there is a bit of a cloud on some of these drugs when it comes to cognitive function, no one should undertake stopping these drugs because they’re a little concerned.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

48:51-49:23

Yes, absolutely. Drugs like this should be tapered off. You should talk to your clinician, physician, and gradually taper them off. It’s a little bit like if someone’s been drinking for a long period of time, the chronic alcoholic, we never advise them to go cold turkey. I know we usually have them come in, put them on a regimen of a taper before they go cold turkey. So I think it’s somewhat similar to this because you don’t want your brain to go from one state to another state when it’s dependent on a medicine like abruptly.

Joe

49:23-49:26

Now, I will challenge you on that taper problem.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

49:26-49:26

Yeah.

Joe

49:27-49:43

We have been complaining for years that the drug companies haven’t come up with guidance. The FDA hasn’t come up with guidance. And many of the professional organizations haven’t come up with guidance. As everybody says, yes, slow taper.

Terry

49:43-49:59

Well, the drug companies have no incentive to help people get off their drugs. FDA, on the other hand, you know, you could argue that it is a public health question, that perhaps they should have done it, but they have not.

Joe

49:59-50:27

And the FDA would say, well, it’s not our job. So how does a psychiatrist such as yourself, who is treating a patient with an SSRI-type antidepressant or perhaps a gabapentinoid for some nerve pain or fill in the blank drug, and somebody says, well, yeah, I really would like to stop taking my sertraline. There’s no cookbook. How do you advise them?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

50:27-51:09

Yeah, it’s a huge gap. Even more fundamental is that physicians need to know what is the half-life of a particular drug before they counsel people on how to taper. And most doctors, because there’s so many drugs now, nobody even remembers. So you almost have to ask AI for how do I taper off this person. That’s the only solution.

Somebody has to build an AI chatbot into your electronic health record. So just how I do it, for a drug with a very long half-life, it’ll taper itself out of your body. Because if it has a 30, 40-day half-life, you don’t need to worry as much about a drug as with a short half-life causing abrupt withdrawal symptoms.

Terry

51:09-51:19

So that would be, for example, the antidepressant fluoxetine, which is not nearly as difficult to discontinue as a short-acting drug like venlafaxine.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

51:20-51:30

That’s right. Beautifully put it. I love the way you give these concrete examples. Yes. I think AI is going to take over all of these solutions that the drug companies and FDA don’t want to tackle.

Terry

51:32-51:48

Well, what about the potential for AI to help people in your situation who are trying to help people with psychiatric problems or with dementia? What do you see as the role for AI?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

51:48-52:36

I think it’s going to transform the field. Just in mental health, for example, children. I have seen surveys would say 80-90% of kids would rather talk to a bot rather than a human who is judging them, especially an older human that’s judging them. That’s one.

A lot of crises that kids have happen late at night or teens and college students. There’s nobody for them to talk to. And in terms of dementia, you know, I mean, look, people want cognitive testing in the comfort of their home. It’s too intrusive to go to a clinic and have someone poke and prod you and ask questions like this.

If you can get tested in the comfort of your home with a reliable evidence-based test, and then it tells you, you know, here’s what you need to do, then people can decide with their family. I think that’s where we’re headed.

Joe

52:37-53:01

Dr. Doraiswamy, we are almost out of time. As you look into your crystal ball, what do you see for the future, especially when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia? What would your hopes be over the next decade or two for better treatments, new ways of thinking, perhaps some kind of a breakthrough?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

53:03-54:10

Well, I think the first thing I would hope for is there are five or six million people in the U.S. and maybe 30 million people around the world already living with dementia. We shouldn’t ignore these people. Even some of the people who are advanced stages, there’s a human still in there.

We need to make sure that we have adequate resources to provide for them, to support their caregiver, to make sure that their lives have high quality. We should not neglect them because a lot of the drug discovery is moving to earlier and earlier and earlier stages, neglecting the later stages. So that’s one.

So the human element needs to be brought back in. Second is we need to really set the bar for drug development so that it’s unambiguous. A very high bar for efficacy and a bar for safety so that we don’t have to be doing regular PET scans and MRI scans to monitor people.

Ultimately, I think we need more investment from society because it’s a huge problem. I think we’re going to have a combination of drugs, much like cancer and other specialties. I’m not optimistic we’ll find a cure, but I’m hopeful that we’ll have a lot of very, very highly efficacious drugs in the next five to 10 years.

Joe

54:10-54:17

And in the one minute we have left, your recommendations for people who want to try and prevent the development of dementia?

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

54:19-54:30

What’s good for the heart is good for the brain. Heart healthy diet, exercise regularly, get seven, eight hours of sleep, be socially and cognitively very active.

Terry

54:31-54:38

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, thank you so much for coming to talk with us today on The People’s Pharmacy.

Dr. Murali Doraiswamy

54:38-54:39

You’re welcome. Always a pleasure.

Terry

54:40-55:05

You’ve been listening to Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program at Duke University School of Medicine. He’s a professor in medicine and a faculty network member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. Dr. Doraiswamy is also an affiliate of the Duke Initiative for Science and Society.

Joe

55:05-55:14

Lyn Siegel produced today’s show. Al Wodarski engineered. Dave Graedon edits our interviews. B.J. Leiderman composed our theme music.

Terry

55:15-55:23

This show is a co-production of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC, with the People’s Pharmacy.

Joe

55:23-55:42

Today’s show is number 1,451. You can find it online at peoplespharmacy.com. At peoplespharmacy.com, you can share your comments about this episode. You can also reach us through email, radio at peoplespharmacy.com.

Terry

55:42-56:16

Our interviews are available through your favorite podcast provider. You’ll find the podcast on our website on Monday morning. There, you can also find our posts on the week’s health news. We’ve included links to articles that we’ve written about the possible association between some infections and the risk of dementia. Could vaccines against shingles, influenza, or tuberculosis help slow cognitive decline? Might amyloid plaque be part of the brain’s immune defense against infection?

Joe

56:17-56:37

You know, Terry, I have been so fascinated with BCG. This is a vaccine that’s over 100 years old, but there was a recent study, sort of an analysis overview from Frontiers in Pediatrics last summer. And it really suggested that BCG might have an important role against some dementias.

Terry

56:38-56:40

We’ll put a link to that on the website as well.

Joe

56:40-56:55

At peoplespharmacy.com, you can sign up for our free online newsletter to get the latest news about important health stories. When you subscribe, you also have regular access to information about our weekly podcast. In Durham, North Carolina, I’m Joe Graedon.

Terry

56:55-57:28

And I’m Terry Graedon. Thanks for listening. Please join us next week. Thank you for listening to the People’s Pharmacy Podcast. It’s an honor and a pleasure to bring you our award-winning program week in and week out. But producing and distributing this show as a free podcast takes time and costs money.

Joe

57:29-57:38

If you like what we do and you’d like to help us continue to produce high-quality, independent healthcare journalism, please consider chipping in.

Terry

57:39-57:43

All you have to do is go to peoplespharmacy.com/donate.

Joe

57:43-57:57

Whether it’s just one time or a monthly donation, you can be part of the team that makes this show possible. Thank you for your continued loyalty and support. We couldn’t make our show without you.