How to Prevent 45% of Alzheimer’s Risk (Before It Starts) | Lisa Skinner | #TGV733

And, uh, now let's talk about, uh, the topic, and my first question centered around Alzheimer's age.

Is Alzheimer's really a disease of old age, or are we building it silently in, say, our 30s and 40s? What's your take on that?

It actually is developing silently, and it can be developing silently without any symptoms whatsoever for decades before symptoms start to appear.

And again, what I said in the beginning, your first question, was we now know that there are things that we can do that can minimize our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease because, you know, it can start much, much earlier in our brains than we ever realized before.

Mm-hmm.

Got it.

And also, most people think that, uh, Alzheimer's is purely genetic, right? But what does science say about that?

Genetics is just a small part of the people who develop Alzheimer's disease.

We ha-have, um, many, many known risk factors that play a role in determining, um, what our risk actually is of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So, um, we have-- there are four modifiable-- we call them modifiable risk factors, uh, because we can't change these risk factors.

If they, um, if they apply to any one of us, then they're fixed.

So the first one is our age.

Age is the number one determining risk factor of developing Alzheimer's disease, and we can't do anything about aging chronologically, right? So, um, that's a non-modifiable risk factor that applies to everybody.

And then, um, genetics is a non-modifiable risk factor.

Um, there are two Kind of genetic factors that play a role.

Like me, I mentioned I have eight family members who have developed one of the brain diseases that causes dementia.

Five of those eight are blood relatives, so that puts me in a higher risk category of developing Alzheimer's disease than somebody who has no familial history of it.

It does tend to run in families.

But that is different from carrying the gene that raises our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So there is a gene called the APOE4 gene, and it is passed down from our parents.

So we can inherit one of those APOE4 genes from our mothers, and we can inherit one from our fathers.

So if they are passed down, we would either be carrying one of those genes or both of those genes that we got from both parents.

Does that mean that that person who's carrying that gene will definitely, um, develop Alzheimer's disease? No.

What it means is it increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

And then the last non-modifiable risk factor that we are aware of that, um, increases a person's risk is gender.

And, uh, now let's talk about, uh, the topic, and my first question centered around Alzheimer's age.

Is Alzheimer's really a disease of old age, or are we building it silently in, say, our 30s and 40s? What's your take on that?

It actually is developing silently, and it can be developing silently without any symptoms whatsoever for decades before symptoms start to appear.

And again, what I said in the beginning, your first question, was we now know that there are things that we can do that can minimize our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease because, you know, it can start much, much earlier in our brains than we ever realized before.

Mm-hmm.

Got it.

And also, most people think that, uh, Alzheimer's is purely genetic, right? But what does science say about that?

Genetics is just a small part of the people who develop Alzheimer's disease.

We ha-have, um, many, many known risk factors that play a role in determining, um, what our risk actually is of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So, um, we have-- there are four modifiable-- we call them modifiable risk factors, uh, because we can't change these risk factors.

If they, um, if they apply to any one of us, then they're fixed.

So the first one is our age.

Age is the number one determining risk factor of developing Alzheimer's disease, and we can't do anything about aging chronologically, right? So, um, that's a non-modifiable risk factor that applies to everybody.

And then, um, genetics is a non-modifiable risk factor.

Um, there are two Kind of genetic factors that play a role.

Like me, I mentioned I have eight family members who have developed one of the brain diseases that causes dementia.

Five of those eight are blood relatives, so that puts me in a higher risk category of developing Alzheimer's disease than somebody who has no familial history of it.

It does tend to run in families.

But that is different from carrying the gene that raises our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So there is a gene called the APOE4 gene, and it is passed down from our parents.

So we can inherit one of those APOE4 genes from our mothers, and we can inherit one from our fathers.

So if they are passed down, we would either be carrying one of those genes or both of those genes that we got from both parents.

Does that mean that that person who's carrying that gene will definitely, um, develop Alzheimer's disease? No.

What it means is it increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

And then the last non-modifiable risk factor that we are aware of that, um, increases a person's risk is gender.