10 August 2019 | New Scientist | 3AS MANY as 35 million people worldwide
have Alzheimer’s disease. The financial
cost to society is immense; the
emotional cost incalculable. Billions of
dollars have been poured into studying
the lead suspect: the formation of
plaques of amyloid protein in the brain.
But after decades of research, we still
have no idea how to treat the disease.
In January, we dropped a bombshell:
evidence suggests that, instead of
amyloid, the cause of Alzheimer’s could
be bacterial infection. If true, the finding
would explain years of failed efforts to
grapple with the disease and could at last
point the way to effective treatments.
The shock waves don’t stop
at Alzheimer’s. Bacteria have been
implicated in a whole host of other
major disorders, including diabetes,
stroke and heart disease.It may be time to radically rethink
our most prevalent diseases. Many are
typically blamed on unhealthy lifestyles.
As a consequence, living with a chronic
disorder, however common, comes
with a faint shadow of shame: that you
haven’t eaten, exercised or lived well
enough to keep morbidity at bay.
Now the gum disease-causing
organism Porphyromonas gingivalis is
moving up the suspect list (see page 42).
As a master manipulator of our immunesystem, it is a particularly tricky
bacterium to treat. The key challenge for
researchers is to find a way to stop the
organism from wreaking havoc in our
bodies through inflammation, without
switching off vital defence mechanisms.
However, there is much we can
do while we await further evidence.
Although it is possible that our lifestyles
aren’t solely to blame for our most
common disorders, they may currently
provide our best chance of keeping
Alzheimer’s and other diseases at bay.
Good oral hygiene is an obvious start,
but most of us probably already carry
P. gingivalis to some extent. So, for many
of us, our best hope is to do everything
we can to reduce low-level chronic
inflammation. This returns us to a
familiar refrain: good diet and plenty
of exercise are essential. ❚Infectious idea
A cunning bacteria may force a rethink of our most prevalent diseases
The bacteria
behind gum
disease could
cause many
“lifestyle”
conditionsKATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYThe leader
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