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A comment on What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the answer. Parent comment

Re:What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the an... by throwawaymaths on Saturday December 10, 2022 @04:22PM (#33936935)
> High fitness in middle age reduces the chance of dementia by ninety percent

Not to be a sourpuss but I believe that a reasonable theory on this is that physical activity, especially activity that uses brain power, causes neuronal development which reroutes function around damage, without necessarily preventing or mitigating damage itself.

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Re:What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the an... by _a_a_a_ on Saturday December 10, 2022 @06:18PM (#33938114)
Physical surely helps but the theory of cognitive reserve suggests heavy brain use may build up a reserve of extra connections which insulate one somewhat from brain loss. I can't quote selectively as it's a big chunk of text, but here <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_reserve>
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Re:What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the an... by SamBam on Saturday December 10, 2022 @09:44PM (#33939543)
Rerouting is mitigating. If the end result is lack of dementia, that's what's important. The fact that some percentage of the neurons are damaged is not a problem. The elasticity of the brain is an evolved trait, rerouting is what the brain does to keep working.
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Re:What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the an... by throwawaymaths on Sunday December 11, 2022 @01:09PM (#33945662)
Well no. Is it not obvious that if you could prevent the damage that would be better than patching it over?
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Re:What causes Alzheimer's? Scientists are rethinking the an... by kupopuffs on Sunday December 11, 2022 @06:01PM (#33948575)
Depends on what negative effects actually manifest
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