how do auto-immune diseases raise my risk for alzheimer's?
auto-immunity is where your body attacks itself
Now that it looks like the Amyloid Hypothesis is likely incorrect, an increasing number of researchers are postulating that Alzheimer's Disease may be an auto-immune disease where the brain's own defenses are what's killing the brain.
In this recent scientific article titled "Alzheimer Disease Pathogenesis: The Role of Autoimmunity" researchers point to the growing number of studies that suggest that we are heading in the wrong direction in treating Amyloid Beta as the genesis of this disease and instead should be heading in the direction of viewing Alzheimer's as an immuno-response against the brain itself. Moreover, auto-antibodies, the researchers contend, might be the new Alzheimer's diagnostic tool we'll be using in the near future.
As this line of reasoning takes off, be assured that we will begin seeing more studies and articles linking diseases like Diabetes and Rheumatoid Arthritis to Alzheimer's Disease.
But we are not so sure that connection can be made...and here's why:
If having an auto-immune disease was key to whether you would develop Alzheimer's, then it would reason that all auto-immune diseases would carry the same or very similar risks for developing Alzheimer's Disease.
Which is absolutely NOT the case. In fact, many auto-immune diseases don't even show up as co-morbid conditions to Alzheimer's - meaning many people dying of Alzheimer's don't have a single auto-immune disease and vise-versa...many people with an auto-immune condition never contract Alzheimer's.
Therefore, we feel this inconsistency begs us to look closer at those auto-immune diseases THAT DO show up as co-morbid diagnosed conditions for keys as to why a high number of individuals with these diseases go on to develop Alzheimer's.
And we contend that the overlap between literally co-morbid auto-immune diseases is that they all have as a symptom - dry mouth. And dry mouth will result in periodontal disease.
The Curing Alzheimer's Disease Foundation is dedicated to helping explain the connection between Autoimmunity and Alzheimer's. In this recent blog post, we delve into the fascinating theory that looks at a specific immune cell that, in some people is over produced - and could be contributing to this still unknown link.
THE FOLLOWING AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASES ARE LINKED TO ALZHEIMER'S
Periodontal Disease substantially increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's
In as far as autoimmunity and Alzheimer's goes, Periodontal Disease (PD) has the highest co-morbidity with Alzheimer's Disease of all auto-immune disorders.
We believe this is because:
if you have PD, you have a type of bacteria that can also cause Alzheimer's. We saw this in the dental clinic daily - in fact, we could frequently predict who would be suffering from dementia / or was already suffering from dementia just by looking at their periodontal-charting! Advanced age with deep pockets over a long period of time = Mild/Moderate Cognitive Impairment or even Alzheimer's Disease. In fact, it was rare where this wasn't the case. Taken further, if a tooth (or many teeth) were lost due to Gum Disease then it was a guarantee that if the the individual was older (60+) they were already starting to fail cognitively. Wow.
We will bring you more information on this in a future blogpost.
Diabetes increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease
Diabetes - in both forms (type I and type II) - is close to the top of the list of auto-immune diseases that are linked to Alzheimer's.
Which begs the question: why do so many people with Alzheimer's also have Diabetes?
We think the answer is simpler than the hard-thinking research world wants it to be:
- We believe the parallel is due to what happens to diabetics as this disease progresses.
One of the most irritating symptoms of Diabetes is xerostomia - commonly known as Dry Mouth.
Now, when you have no/low saliva, you will inevitably develop Periodontal Disease because the lack of saliva (saliva is what keeps the mouth PH basic), the PH of your mouth becomes acidic.
And when the PH of your mouth becomes acidic, the bad (harmful) bacteria overgrow and the good (harmless) bacteria die. Tooth decay and Periodontal Disease (PD) ensue, the later of which (as we just covered) increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's.
Another risk for developing Alzheimer's is having the autoimmune disease Sjogren's Syndrome
Another risk for developing Alzheimer's is having the autoimmune disease Sjogren's Syndrome
For the longest time, researchers have been documenting a strong association between this form of autoimmunity and Alzheimer's Disease.
We agree that Sjogren's Syndrome (SS) is risk factor -
- partly because it's strikes women far more than it does men - see risk factor: biological sex.
- But mostly because of what it does to the body. Just as with Diabetes, SS, by nature, reduces saliva (among other autonomic functions) and in so doing, reduces the oral PH. This, we contend, is why this disease appears to be a strong risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease.
Lupus also appears to increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
And last but not least: Rheumatoid Arthritis may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
Another risk for developing Alzheimer's is having the autoimmune disease Sjogren's Syndrome
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), which is the most common form of Lupus, is on the list of diseases associated with later development of dementia and/or Alzheimer's Disease.
This study found that SLE sufferers have a 15 times higher risk of developing Vascular Dementia and/or Alzheimer's. Keep in mind, gender could be an underlying factor as women suffer from this form of auto-immunity 9 times more than men [With an even higher incidence during the reproductive years].
Hoshimotos Thyroiditis increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's
And last but not least: Rheumatoid Arthritis may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
And last but not least: Rheumatoid Arthritis may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
Hoshimotos Thyroiditis (low thyroid) is on this list, not because of it's overlap between autoimmunity and Alzheimer's but because women suffer from this form of auto-immunity 6 times more than men. Again, it may not be about the disease in this instance, but the cross-over with the another stronger risk factor: being genetically female.
And last but not least: Rheumatoid Arthritis may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
And last but not least: Rheumatoid Arthritis may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
And last but not least: Rheumatoid Arthritis may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's
Before we go, another auto-immune disease that has come up in literature as potentially being associated with dementia and Alzheimer's Disease is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Once again, we feel the gender aspect of this disease is what's responsible for the cross-over as women are 2/3rds more likely to develop this condition than men. And unlike Alzheimer's Disease, the number of cases of RA is actually quite stable. What peaks our interest though, is that low SES (socio-economic-status) was identified as a contributing factor to the development of RA. In this study, "Prevalence Trend and Disparities in Rheumatoid Arthritis among US Adults, 2005–2018", the authors attribute the stress that comes with living in poverty as a potential reason for higher levels of this disease being found in those living in poverty. And that the human stress response may be what's causing the auto-immune response:
"Currently, stress is recognized as an important risk factor in the pathogenesis of autoimmune rheumatic diseases because human stress response might have an effect on the immune responses system and lead to pro-inflammatory effects and related diseases"
Just so we are clear, chronic stress (which can also be caused by depression, anxiety, a bad marriage, chronic illnesses) has been proven to impact our body's overall PH...which will be covered in a future blogpost that we will link to here.
AND HERE'S THE SCIENCE BEHIND THIS CONNECTION
HELPER T-17 CELLS MAY BE UNREGULATED?
There is a growing scientific belief that Alzheimer's Disease may be an auto-immune condition. Researchers belonging to this "camp of thought" are looking specifically at the Helper 17 T-cell as the culprit.
And initially, we were right on board as Dr. Crandall (the first patient to reverse Alzheimer's) had so many diagnosed and suspected autoimmune diseases...we reasoned that AD was just one more way his body was fighting itself. Here's a great blogpost we wrote on this topic that puts the science into understandable terms:
click here to visit the blogpost on auto-immunity's potential role in Alzheimer's
But when you look closer at the connection between autoimmunity and Alzheimer's, you would anticipate that all auto-immune diseases would have the same or similar co-morbidities with AD - yet they don't. Moreover, what you do see is that a large percentage of auto-immune diseases strike women far more frequently than men - which raises the question: is it the auto-immune disease that is the risk or is the risk about gender?
And we have to side with the latter. Being female increases your odds of contracting Alzheimers by over 60%. And being female also increases your risk of developing quite a few Auto-immune diseases by at least that much. Therefore, it's our belief that the reason we are seeing such a strong association between some of these auto-immune disorders and AD (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Hoshimotos Thyroiditis) is actually more about the sex of the individual than the auto-immune disease they suffer from.
Yet there are still very compelling associations being drawn between some auto-immune conditions and AD - specifically Diabetes Type I and Periodontal Disease. Please read further to see why these two conditions specifically seem to translate into a AD diagnosis later in life.
autoimmunity has been linked to Alzheimer's