welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

my story revisited #115-apoe 4 gene effects in kids

MY STORY REVISITED #115-APOE 4 GENE IN KIDS

the apoe 4 gene is a gene that regulates cholesterol transport in the body
there are 3 versions
apoe 2 carries a low risk for developing late onset alzheimers disease
apoe 3 carries a mild risk for developping late onset alzheimers disease
apoe 4 carries an increased risk for developing late onset alzheimers disease

apoe 4 apoe 4 or homozygous or double version carries an increased risk of developing late onset alzheimers disease by somewhere between 10-20 times 
this amount varies according to what study you read

the stats are below in the old blog from 8 years ago
60% of folks with alzheimers disease have this apoe 4 gene
however
just because you have it doesnt mean you will get it
how you live your life health wise can determine what effect it will have on you

this blog discussed some finding in babies who have the apoe 4 gene
does its start causing problems at this age

maybe

here is the original jama article linked here
__________

12-06-2013
APOE
 
i carry the apoe4 gene that increases the chances of developing
alzheimers disease
since i have the homozygous or double version or apoe4/apoe4
version my chances are increased 20 times
the single version or heterozygous or apoe4 increases ones chances
by about 5 times

if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure and or uncontrolled diabetes
and or uncontrolled cholesterol your chances of developing alzheimers is
the same as mine

so take care of those things please
its something you can do to help prevent the onset of this awful disease
in yourself

 
examiner.com article on the study

in a recent study they looked at infants who had the apoe 4 gene
now why on why would they know that these infants have this gene

they took these infants and did mri scans of the brain
now in alzheimers there are areas in the middle of the brain and
the rear of the brain that are affected by this disease

in these infants with the apoe4 gene those areas were found to
have decreased brain growth compared to infants
who didnt have the gene

there was no difference in the infants in their overall development
whether they were apoe positive or not

the question is is this apoe4 gene providing a foothold for the
disease that will show up 50-80 years later

25% of the us population carry this gene
60% of all alzheimers patients have this gene

the gene regulates cholesterol which is used to grow the brain
it also regulates the amyloid that over accumulates in the brain
with alzheimers

in these infants lifetime
this will all be worked out and well or theyll know what it all means
they will have access to a cure
they will know what to do over a lifetime to prevent this awful disease
this alzheimers disease

all we can do for now is to support the research
take care of ourselves
by doing all those things needed to stay healthy
control blood pressure
control diabetes
control cholesterol
maintain a normal body weight
exercise
eat a healthy diet like the mediterranean diet
control anxiety depression
sleep normal
be happy
stay active mentally
avoid alcohol abuse drug abuse tobacco abuse
__________
it may be possible in the future to alter the apoe 4 gene to make it an apoe 2 gene so that in a persons lifetime they wont suffer the effects of this apoe 4 gene
they are able to do it now in the lab

stay tuned
in the meantime
do all these healthy things above to slow things down

the organicgreen doctor

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