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Alzheimer's Causative Factors To Avoid

Plus: 5 minutes to stronger knees

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The 10almonds Team
May 07, 2024

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

Put your feet up! No, really. Lie on your back (on the floor) and put your bare feet up on the couch or bed, so that your legs are ideally inclined at about 45°.

Maintain that position for one minute, then sit on the couch/bed with your feet on the floor.

If your legs become pale when elevated, and especially if then they take several minutes to return to their usual complexion, you might want to see your doctor about your arterial health.

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

  • More than 1 in 10 adults over the age of 65 get Alzheimer’s

    • Today’s main feature examines the world’s largest study of its kind into the causative factors of Alzheimer’s, and what we can do to reduce our risk.

    • Dr. Snowdon (the lead researcher, and today’s featured expert) found a lot of results, including pertaining to diet (cooked greens and beans and tomatoes featured strongly), genes, and certain psychological and sociological factors that you might want to take up if you haven’t already!

  • If you've wanted to enjoy cannabis but have been put off by the harshness of smoking or vaping, you're not alone.

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE

Neurospicy?

“Noisy” autistic brains seem better at certain tasks. Here’s why neuroaffirmative research matters:

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

5 Minutes To Stronger Knees (6:14)

Dr. Kristie Ennis recommends these exercises:

Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

❓️ THIS OR THAT?

Vote on Which is Healthier

Yesterday we asked you to choose between Puritan’s Pride Resveratrol and Life Extension Resveratrol—we picked the Life Extension Resveratrol (click here to read about why)!

Now for today’s choice:

Click on whichever you think is better for you!

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

🧠 MAIN FEATURE

The Best Brains Bar Nun?

This is Dr. David Snowdon. He’s an epidemiologist, and one of the world’s foremost experts on Alzheimer’s disease. He was also, most famously, the lead researcher of what has become known as “The Nun Study”.

We recently reviewed his book about this study:

…which we definitely encourage you to check out, but we’ll do our best to summarize its key points today!

Reassurance up-front: no, you don’t have to become a nun 😉

The Nun Study

In 1991, a large number (678) of nuns were recruited for what was to be (and until now, remains) the largest study of its kind into the impact of a wide variety of factors on aging, and in particular, Alzheimer’s disease.

Why it was so important: because the nuns were all from the same Order, had the same occupation (it’s a teaching Order), with very similar lifestyles, schedules, socioeconomic status, general background, access to healthcare, similar diets, same relationship status (celibate), same sex (female), and many other factors also similar, this meant that most of the confounding variables that confound other studies were already controlled-for here.

Enrollment in the study also required consenting to donating one’s brain for study post-mortem—and of those who have since died, indeed 98% of them have been donated (the other 2%, we presume, may have run into technical administrative issues with the donation process, due to the circumstances of death and/or delays in processing the donation).

How the study was undertaken

We don’t have enough space to describe the entire methodology here, but the gist of it is:

  • Genetic testing for relevant genetic factors

  • Data gathered about lives so far, including not just medical records but also autobiographies that the nuns wrote when they took their vows (at ages 19–21)

  • Extensive ongoing personal interviews about habits, life choices, and attitudes

  • Yearly evaluations including memory tests and physical function tests

  • Brain donation upon death

What they found

Technically, The Nun Study is still ongoing. Of the original 678 nuns (aged 75–106), three are still alive (based on the latest report, at least).

However, lots of results have already been gained, including…

Genes

A year into the study, in 1992, the “apolipoprotein E” (APOE) gene was established as a likely causative factor in Alzheimer’s disease. This is probably not new to our readers in 2024, but there are interesting things being learned even now, for example:

…but watch out! Because also:

Words

Based on the autobiographies written by the nuns in their youth upon taking their vows, there were two factors that were later correlated with not getting dementia:

  • Longer sentences

  • Positive outlook

  • “Idea density”

That latter item means the relative linguistic density of ideas and complexity thereof, and the fluency and vivacity with which they were expressed (this was not a wishy-washy assessment; there was a hard-science analysis to determine numbers).

Want to spruce up yours? You might like to check out:

…for specific, evidence-based ways to tweak your reading to fight cognitive decline.

Food

While the dietary habits of the nuns were fairly homogenous, those who favored eating more cooked greens, beans, and tomatoes, lived longer and with healthier brains.

Other aspects of brain health & mental health

The study also found that nuns who avoided stroke and depression, were also less likely to get dementia.

For tending to these, check out:

Community & Faith

Obviously, in this matter the nuns were quite a homogenous group, scoring heavily in community and faith. What’s relevant here is the difference between the nuns, and other epidemiological studies in other groups (invariably not scoring so highly).

Community & faith are considered, separately and together, to be protective factors against dementia.

Faith may be something that “you have it or you don’t” (we’re a health science newsletter, not a theological publication, but for the interested, philosopher John Stuart Mill’s 1859 essay “On Liberty“ makes a good argument for it not being something one can choose, prompting him to argue for religious tolerance, on the grounds that religious coercion is a futile effort precisely because a person cannot choose to dis/believe something)

…but community can definitely be chosen, nurtured, and grown. We’ve written about this a bit before:

You might also like to check out this great book on the topic:

Want more?

We gave a ground-up primer on avoiding Alzheimer’s and other dementias; check it out:

Take care!

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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You'll Want to Eat – by Erin Clarke

Clarke’s focus here is on what she calls “stealthy healthy”, with the idea of dishes that feel indulgent while being great for the health.

The recipes, of which there are well over 100, are indeed delicious and easy to make without being oversimplified, and since she encourages the use of in-season ingredients, many recipes come with a “market swaps” substitution guide, to make each recipe seasonal.

The book is largely not vegetarian, let alone vegan, but the required substitutions will be second-nature to any seasoned vegetarian or vegan. Indeed, “skip the meat sometimes” is one of the advices she offers near the beginning of the book, in the category of tips to make things even healthier.

Bottom line: if you want to add dishes to your repertoire that are great for entertaining and still super-healthy, this book will be a fine addition to your collection.

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Wishing you long, healthy, and joyous life,

The 10almonds Team