The Radical Theory That Could Force Us To Rethink Alzheimer’s

颠覆性理论:或将迫使我们重新思考阿尔茨海默病

New Scientist Podcasts

2026-03-11

18 分钟
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Episode 350 What If Alzheimer’s disease starts in the body, not the brain? A radical new theory upends everything we thought we knew about the disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia - the leading cause of death in the UK. And for 100 years we believed it all happened in the brain. Despite all of the major symptoms of Alzheimer’s being brain related, scientists studying gene activity have discovered something surprising. Most risk variants for the disease appear in the skin, lungs and gut - not the brain. This could mean the leading suspects of the disease - amyloid plaques and tau proteins - may not be to blame. But if not them, then what? Rowan Hooper is joined by New Scientist’s Australia reporter Alice Klein to discuss the findings. Chapters (00:00) Intro - A radical new understanding of Alzheimer’s (01:23) Why amyloid and tau treatments aren’t proving effective (02:16) How gum and dental health is linked to Alzheimer’s (03:09) Could proteins in the brain be a protective feature? (03:56) Why amyloid and tau really aren’t the full picture (04:35) Why scientists have gone back to the drawing board (05:37) Does Alzheimer’s start in the skin, lungs and gut? (06:14) Alzheimer’s risk genes found in the immune system and barrier tissues (07:12) Where inflammation fits into the puzzle of Alzheimer’s (09:10) The role of the blood brain barrier (10:00) How have scientists responded to these findings? (10:58) What other health conditions are linked to Alzheimer’s? (12:08) Preventative measures you can take to reduce your Alzheimer’s risk (15:03) How reframing diseases leads to better treatments To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Read the latest New Scientist CoLab article: https://newscientist.com/eternal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • Welcome to True Spies.

  • The podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

  • You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

  • What do they know?

  • What are their skills?

  • And what would you do in their position?

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  • True Spies from Spyscape Studios, wherever you get your podcasts.

  • Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia which is the leading cause of death in the UK,

  • the joint top cause in Australia and the fifth most common cause of death in the United States.

  • It's a terrible disease and we've thought for over a hundred years that Alzheimer's is something that starts in the brain,

  • something goes wrong in the brain and then it leads to dementia.

  • But now this compelling evidence that Alzheimer's in fact begins in places like the skin,

  • the lungs or the gut.

  • It begins outside the brain and it spreads to the brain and there it forms these characteristic misshapen proteins.

  • But the idea that it starts outside the brain is radical stuff.

  • It could really upend our understanding of the disease.

  • That's what we're getting into on this episode of The World, the Universe and Us from New Scientist.

  • I'm Dr Rowan Hooper.

  • I'm joined by reporter Alice Klein.