You may have already heard that June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness month—a month when the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging do more to promote awareness and education about Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Alzheimer’s, the most common cause of dementia, is a general term for loss of memory, problem-solving, and thinking abilities that interferes with daily life.

Dementia is a progressive disorder that worsens over time. Symptoms include memory loss of recent events and difficulty with thinking and reasoning. As the disease progresses, symptoms can include language problems, disorientation, and behavioral changes.

Alzheimer’s disease is a top 10 leading cause of death in the United States. Currently about 7 million people in the U.S. struggle with Alzheimer’s, and about 600,000 people are diagnosed with the condition each year.

Alzheimer’s disease occurs when there is an accumulation of abnormal proteins in the brain, which lead to neural damage and eventually brain shrinkage. Amyloid plaques and tau tangles are the two most common types of abnormal protein formations that damage the brain. We won’t get into the weeds on these, but we at least must mention them in a discussion on Alzheimer’s.

Age is the greatest risk factor, with most individuals diagnosed in their 60s or later.

Other factors such as genetics, head injuries, and cardiovascular health may also lead to increased risks of Alzheimer’s or dementia.

There are seven early warning signs of Alzheimer’s that can help us understand when someone might be going down the path of dementia:

• Memory loss that disrupts daily life: Forgetting recently learned information, misplacing things, and forgetting the names of familiar people or places.
• Challenges in planning or solving problems: Difficulty managing a budget, keeping track of bills, or following a recipe.
• Difficulty completing familiar tasks: Struggling to get dressed, cooking, or taking a shower.
• Confusion with time or place: Losing track of the date, season, or passage of time, or getting lost in familiar places.
• Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships: Difficulty reading, judging distance, or coordinating movement.
• New problems with words in speaking or writing: Struggling to find the right words, repeating phrases, or having trouble following a conversation.
• Misplacing things and being unable to retrace steps: Losing items and not being able to remember where they were placed.

The hallmark symptom for Alzheimer’s is difficulty thinking clearly or remembering recent events. If you or someone you know consistently exhibits those symptoms, you should talk to a doctor.

There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s.

There are treatments that can temporarily reduce symptoms and slow the progression of the disease. These treatments boost performance of chemicals in the brain that carry information from one brain cell to another.

All these drugs have been shown to reduce some of the symptoms and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, but none of them have been able to stop or reverse Alzheimer’s. There really is no cure for Alzheimer’s or even a drug that seems to make a significant impact on slowing disease progression.

Some promising research provides hope.

For the last year or so, scientists have been testing a drug that’s showing a good deal of promise in reducing the effects of dementia. On tests with animals, this new drug helps them move better and solve mazes faster.

This surprising new class of drugs that seems to offer some new hope for reducing the effects of dementia is the suddenly everywhere class of drugs that includes Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjarno—the GLP-1 agonist drugs. These drugs were originally designed to treat diabetes because people with severe liver and kidney problems can’t tolerate metformin. We quickly learned that these drugs help with weight loss by reducing appetite, slowing gastric emptying, and increasing insulin production. And increasing insulin production may be the key in treating Alzheimer’s.

This starts to make more sense when we keep in mind that type 2 diabetes increases the risk of dementia. Insulin plays a vital role in controlling blood sugar throughout the body. It signals cells of all types to move glucose transmitters to the cell membrane—opening the door for sugar to enter the cells, which drives down glucose levels in the blood.

The brain is different. Brain cells love glucose; they consume as much as 20 percent of the glucose we produce. Insulin doesn’t have to open the door for glucose in the brain, it’s always open.

In the brain, insulin functions more like a growth factor. It supports growth of new brain cells and the repair of damaged cells. Insulin basically works to keep brain cells fully functional. This means that if the brain becomes resistant to insulin, as it does in diabetes, connections between brain cells become damaged. As cells stop communicating, they will start to atrophy and eventually disappear. When this happens, you’re well on your way to Alzheimer’s.

This background helps us understand why drugs like Ozempic may be the answer to treating Alzheimer’s. GLP-1 receptors are found in the brain, where they help brain cells grow and maintain their connections.

Studies are starting to point to the fact that GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs do make a favorable impact on dementia. A study published in 2022 found a significantly reduced incidence of dementia in patients who were being treated with GLP-1 receptor agonists. A study published in 2024 found that there was a 40% to 70% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s in patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists versus other diabetic medications.

Obviously more work needs to be done. These drugs are still fairly new, and we don’t know the long-term risks. But if you have dementia, why wouldn’t you consider taking a chance? A paper published last year in the Journal of Clinical Medicine claimed that GLP-1 agonist drugs should be able to cure all types of dementia. Let’s hope that’s the case.

The encouraging thing is more studies and clinical trials will be coming, and Eli Lilly is right here. Let’s hope they keep making progress towards treating, preventing and curing all forms of dementia, especially Alzheimer’s.

Next week we will discuss lifestyle changes you can take to greatly decrease your chances of getting Alzheimer’s.

Stay Strong,

Bo Railey