I often read posts ‘after the fact’ when people have moved on to the next post. But some comment will trigger a thought and, while probably appropriate for a short response in the post, it’s too late. So that you will not be deprived of my wit and wisdom, sometimes I’ll record those comments, with varying degrees of fidelity, in my “Random Thoughts” list of poorly formulated ideas. This right here was intended as one such “Random Thought” entry, but I was not happy with the state of the other two working entries so it was awaiting refinement and/or additional notes to flesh out. However, since I find it hard to resist calls for content, I broke it out into a stand-alone. And, let’s be honest, articles are really just an excuse for a fresh piece of electronic paper for us all to scribble on anyway!
This started as a thought experiment in reaction to a comment from, I believe it was ThreeDoor, that he thought carbs and glucose caused Alzheimer’s (Alzheimer’s as type III diabetes), along with a response (sorry, don’t recall who… Soros the White or some such wizard?) – “My mother was fit, ate healthy, lean, still got Alzheimer’s.” From my personal experience, my father was also lean his whole life, was very fit, spent lots of time outdoors, exercised a lot, and ‘ate healthy’, and died of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), at least indirectly. Even given that, I am largely in the camp of AD being an energy deficit disorder, a disruption of glucose metabolism in the brain. And as a metabolic disorder, it’s caused largely by diet. How do can that be reconciled with, for example, my fathers situation? Or myriad other cases of lean, fit people getting dementia?
First, a brief, and incomplete, explanation of AD as a metabolic disorder. In this paradigm, AD is essentially caused by brain specific insulin resistance. Insulin signaling in the brain allows neurons to pull in blood glucose for energy; absent that signaling, or more correctly, absent brain cells responding to that signaling, brain tissue is starved of energy – glucose – and dies. The brain could literally be bathed in glucose, but without an insulin signal, it would starve for lack of energy – “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink“.
As an alternative energy source, the brain can use ketones, which are a by-product of lipolysis. Ketones don’t require insulin signaling – or any signaling – and so would bypass that metabolic failure and supply the brain with ample energy to avoid the energy deficit. In fact, even in the presence of adequate glucose and insulin signaling, if ketones are present, a healthy brain will preferentially use ketones for energy, 60-80% depending on the study. Alas, most people do not have adequate, if any, ketones available on anything approaching a regular basis, so if the insulin-glucose pathway is disrupted, the brain of the modern western human has no option. That’s where the “Type III diabetes” description comes in; Type II diabetes is a disease of elevated insulin and disrupted insulin signaling in other tissues/cells of the body and AD potentially has the same root cause, just in a specific tissue, e.g. the brain.
But Type II diabetes is strongly correlated with e.g. obesity, and a lean, fit person, generally won’t have type II. Shouldn’t that be true of AD as well if it’s the same basic origin? And we have anecdotes like (un-recalled wizard) and mine above that seem to ‘falsify’ that connection. However, AD and other dementias ARE strongly correlated with Type II diabetes in the sense that Type II comes with a hazard ratio of 1.5-4 for developing AD or other dementia. In other words, if you are a type II diabetic, you have a much higher chance of developing dementia than someone who does not. Hence a hypothesis of a common underlying origin is not unreasonable, especially since the mechanisms are very plausible.
Perhaps more importantly, if maybe a subtle distinction, for why a lean person might develop AD – obesity does not CAUSE type II diabetes, nor does not being obese preclude having type II diabetes. Rather, both are downstream effects of the underlying pathology, insulin resistance. They – type II and obesity – often go hand in hand only because they are almost always closely linked to the impacts of insulin resistance on the same tissues and organs of the body, if to a varying degree at the population level. But if it’s possible for insulin resistance in brain tissue to develop without necessarily developing strongly in other tissues/cells of the body or at least not manifesting in clear outward signs (Fat Inside, Lean Outside is a recognized state if less common than just plain Fat), a lean, ‘fit’ person could certainly develop AD.
For my father’s story, I put ‘ate healthy’ in scare quotes because he ate healthy from the perspective to the dominant paradigm; lots of fruits and vegetables, lean meat (mostly chicken, some pork), never drank a soda his whole life, and whole grains; he was very lean and active. Sweets wise, he was very fond of his home-made cookies, whole oats, raisins, chocolate chips, molasses, and brown sugar (e.g. more molasses!) to the point of probably averaging AT LEAST 4-5 a week. These were dense, whole grain, pure ingredient fare, the type of thing that would be labeled healthy by any main-stream nutritionist; but they packed a glucose load. And he followed the standard eat (at least) 3 times a day recommendations.
I suspect that, despite being active and lean, eating a diet that dieticians would call very healthy, that my father likely had insulin resistance; his diet and eating habits would lead to ‘chronically’ elevated insulin which will itself lead to insulin resistance – fasting insulin is almost never measured in routine blood work, but really should be (and I personally would insist on having it measured. If I ever went to a doctor). And I guarantee that, given his eating habits, there were not enough ketones around make up any potential brain energy deficits. Insulin resistance in the brain will not necessarily manifest with the common downstream manifestations of insulin resistance in other cells of the body. Coupled with the fact that the well known APOE4 alleles that have a high hazard ratio for developing AD also have the effect of reducing the expression of GLUT-4 receptors on the surface of neuronal cells, especially in the hippocampus, that genetic ‘condition’ could potentially explain even mild levels of brain insulin resistance leading to significant disruption of brain glucose metabolism and the subsequent starvation of the brain. In fact, it’s probably wrong to say “APOE4… ALSO have the effect” – It’s, to my mind, this property of the suppression of GLUT4 expression/effectiveness of the APOE4 that causes their presence to have a such a strong ‘predictive’ effect for AD, facilitating the brain energy deficit and subsequent starvation by making brain glucose metabolism naturally weaker to start with in individuals expressing those alleles.
So does glucose and carbs cause AD? First, those aren’t two separate things. Metabolically, carbs == glucose; that’s what carbs turn into starting the instant that your saliva starts interacting with them. But I think “cause” is too strong a term here. The presence of high amounts of sugar in the diet or carbs in a very simple, easily processed form (e.g. not wrapped in fiber requiring extra processing) will cause very quick and high amounts of insulin to be produced to shuttle it off into muscle glycogen or storage, since even moderately elevated serum glucose is deadly. That, in the metabolic paradigm for AD, is the cause: Not only the high spike of insulin caused by a high sugar meal, but maintaining elevated levels of insulin for extended periods of time by frequent eating. Over decades of eating in that fashion, the cells in the body will develop and ‘insensitivity’ to insulin signaling and, in the brain, that leads to an energy deficit and subsequent death of neurons.
Incidentally, if the metabolic paradigm for AD is correct, this is a situation where something like exogenous ketones or MCT supplementation would be a valid therapeutic. The brain doesn’t care if ketones come from a low carb, fasting type lifestyle, just that there are ketones in the blood stream that it can use.
I don’t know much of what was said but I sure do appreciate it. Thanks Putrid for the article.
Mr. Meat writes all purdy.
Someone here wants the meat inside of him from the looks of it.
fasting insulin is almost never measured in routine blood work, but really should be
I’ll have to go check my blood work records, but for me at least that’s routine for my blood work.
yeah, I can proofread.
I think fasting glucose is routing for my blood work.
Yes fasting *glucose* is routine, because its a very easy lab measurement to make. Insulin is much a much harder – and hence expensive – measurement.
I actually consider that a big part of the problem. Because Drs. see glucose ‘under control’ or if it’s not, will recommend metformin or similar or even insulin. But the only reason glucose is under control is that your body is responding to high glucose loads by producing more insulin and it sticks around for longer periods of time.
So you can go for literally decades with chronically elevated insulin, but your – easy and cheap to measure – glucose is normal. But decades of elevated insulin cause metabolic disorder. Including, in my opinion, AD or at the very least exacerbate/trigger it in people who might be pre-disposed.
If you have fasting insulin in your blood work, fantastic! Calculate your HOMA-IR to get a good insight into your metabolic state.
Shit. I can read.
Death of neurons?
That explains my absentmindedness.
Step-dad had type2 and dementia related illness. In bloodline, my uncle had dementia but we think that was military derived as no one else has had it.
You’re saying keto is the way?
/10 years
Oh shit, it may be 11 now…
Proof Keto Causes Memory Loss!
*ships study, applies for grant monies*
The last year has been much more keto in my household. First six weeks of my most recent surgery recovery was. I had bread and ice cream day before yesterday and today.
I definitely sleep better, shorter, and I don’t have pimples, blackheads or dandruff when I don’t eat carbs.
Time moves faster when you’re skinny.
I can’t stick with a keto diet, but for my sister it was a panacea.
Couldn’t cut out the spuds?
I find the first few days of no carbs tough to get through. My energy goes down. But then something kicks in and my energy levels go up substantially from pre-diet. That’s not quite keto that i’m speaking of though. Just high protien/no carb.
I find the first few days of no carbs tough to get through.
This effect (‘keto flu’) is a by-product of lack of metabolic flexibility, where one is not fat adapted (able to use fat burning as a energy source) so ketones remain low while you are depriving your system of readily available glucose in the form of dietary input.
One way to address that is to use exogenous ketones for the first week; that provides a ready supply of ketones in the bloodstream while your body re-adapts to fat burning. Not sure if it works as I never did it, but some people say its a useful tool to get over that first adaptive stage.
This topic is way, way outside my “expertise”. But thanks.
I will only note that I am fat (now – I was a skinny fuck into my thirties), have a terrible diet, and drink lots of soda – I even gave up on “zero sugar” after all my teeth were pulled for a different reason last year. No signs of the beetus thank God and pound on wood.
I still hope for a Star Trek future where Dr. Crusher can probably cure anything that comes up with a hypospray but I’m not holding my breath.
You’ll get your health care from Dr. McCoy and like it
I’ve kinda deliberately not learned much about the “causes” of Alzheimer’s. This is admittedly partially a head-in-the sand thing.
Didn’t know of any history of it in my family at all, till my Mom and her 2 siblings all started getting some dementia at about age 70. Hers was easily managed by Dad till he had a stroke, and her dementia crashed for 2 years of hell. They insisted on him staying at home where they both got worse and worse. After he finally died in ’21 she stayed in a “memory care” place that was good and safe for her. Forgot a lot but did OK. Sucks to have to tell your Mom that your Dad died 12 or 15 times though.
Anyway, there’s something about one’s inability to process B12, something called “intrinsic factor”, I dunno. Supposed to be related to fair-skinned blue-eyes, which we all are. So just 10 minutes ago I did my regular (like every 3 weeks) liquid B12 shot.
I suppose I should learn about it all. A lot going on right now that’s more attractive to get into though.
Uh oh.
Me saying it’s carbs was obviously too simplistic.
What you have layed out here is what I’ve read and makes the most sense to me.
I’m on the logical tract that while we’re pretty obviously omnivores ideally our diet should be mostly fatty meat from a health standpoint.
The healthy diet that the American dietics association would have us eat is what caused a lot of insulin resistance in the last sixty years. Throw in chronic low vitamin D, a more inside lifestyle with modern light bulbs with no near infrared. Corn syrup which further messes up vitamin D uptake. Low fat anti red meat diets which have low Vitamin K further messing up insular regulation is a total recipe for disaster.
While our brains can operate on glucose I think they have evolved to operate primarily on ketones.
The skinny fat people as my wife is want to call them tend to be hardest hit on the metabolic disorders.
omnivore
eat everything; be reasonable.
Solid
I get further and further away from that “reasonable” statement as time goes on. We evolved eating everything we could, but that was largely meat with long periods of no caloric intake – and certainly minimal sugar and easily processed carbs. Grains were not really very available. Fruits and berries were very different ‘animals’ than they are now.
I eat fruits from time to time, in season. I eat a fair amount avocado. Rice maybe once or twice a year. Salad from time to time. Onions, garlic, chiles. Very occasional beer (in contrast to 10 years ago…)
There is no reasonable level of soda/pop/coke. There is no reasonable level of ding-dongs or twinkies. Is one or two a year going to kill you? Clearly not. Probably won’t even harm you. But almost no one is going to stick with one ding-dong or coke or beer. One can decide the trade off is worth it and I’m not going to tell them otherwise. But I’m also not going to pretend it’s good for you if done in moderation.
The everything in moderation trope just doesn’t hold much water for me anymore. What we have access to ‘food’ wise just has no evolutionary history; just because it’s available, convenient, and easy doesn’t make it good.
Eat fresh, single-level ingredient things and you probably don’t have to worry do much about macro-nutrient composition
There are endless ways to interpret “reasonable”.
I use its vagueness on purpose.
That’s where we’re at Putrid.
Except the nightshades are all bit out of our diet as are brassicas, they are totally out. The last time my wife and I ate rice we both realized how bad we felt for the next week.
I haven’t had a beer for seven weeks. I looked at them in the fridge last night and didn’t want to pay the price in gut ache and pain today.
Kids eat some legumes and too many potatoes. I had fries tonight so I’ll break out tomorrow and feel like crap for a few days, thanks canola oil!
Berries in the yard when they are ripe. How different fruit was just a few hundred years ago based on still life paintings alone is wild.
Our top-down all American’s eat this paradigm was a huge mistake. All that Threedoor mentioned, no issues with myself…except beer—that be bad, but I still drink it.
Nice timing for a brain article today, no sarcasm. I do wonder how I’d be personally affected by AD and other neuro issues going forward, but that’s all, or mostly, up to the individual and the damage done to one’s brain. A spherical cow didn’t run into me.
I’m still fit, so I have that going for me. However, my femurs also shut off their own blood supply, leading to titanium. Not sure what lead to that, but I was told it was “idiopathic.” *shrug* I like to think my body’s built up an immunity to bullshit and wards it off. (The opposite is more likely true, but why think like that?)
Still remains odd, seven years on.
Was writing up a rather long and rambling post on ancient religions to include Judaism, but people seem interested in the topic at hand here so I’ll refrain.
Would unleavened bread be your first thought?
Submit it as an article.
RJ knows what’s what.
Yep.
Would that be his… … First article?
articles are really just an excuse for a fresh piece of electronic paper for us all to scribble on anyway!
Ramble away bro, ramble away.
Dad’s 77 tomorrow and Mom’s 73 in Dec. He didn’t recover well from his knee replacements, cuz he’s him, but both are physically in great shape. She’s mentally all there and Dad mostly is, though he can get repetitive.
Dad’s dad had three heart attacks, but all four grandparents lived into their late 70s, even Mom’s mom, who got Hep from a blood transfusion. Dad’s were both in their late 80s, both heavy smokers.
I come from pretty sturdy stock.
This is about the most amazing thing I read today.
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2026/09/22/queer-community-splintered-over-lesbian-bar-that-dropped-strict-mask-mandate-n2432601
Bar eases some insane mask policy in 2026 for ONE night and they went apeshit.
I figure it is in line with this post…in a way
Western Mass. was my immediate guess. It’s one of the most insanely leftist parts of the country. More so even than the big cities.
What if I walked in there with an open jar of peanut butter? Would I start a faux allergic riot?
I mean if it’s your dog RJ…
Do they have pronoun stickers? Put them on the mask themselves? Decorate them?
I for one, am glad that place exists. Let them congregate there. That way none of those freaks will ever go to a place I like.
They won’t frequent alien bars.
They are more alien than I am.
There are still Swing dances in the Boston area requiring masks. There are still other hold outs in MA.
More power to them but the reaction of pulling off the mask is absolutely insane.
I has a sad for people. Assholes broke a lot of them or validated and encouraged their already broken psyche.
Yeah, most of them were already broken. This is just another way for them to congratulate each other on how superior they are.
That’s nuts
LOL it made the top story at the NY Post.
OMG so much crazy detail.
It just gets more unhinged from there.
Perfect.
Kinda why I said it was relevant; in a round about way.
I mean, my dad said more coherent things in his worst days than that bar did.
It does make one wonder if there is a medical explanation behind radical leftism.
Dental dam over the mask ladies.
Indirectly related – an interesting discussion for the GLP-1 users.
From the Sumerian texts to the Bible, the mythology of the ancient ancient world is way fucking weirder than its given credit for. The shit most Christians believe today is so far removed from how ancient readers read things. They believed the Nephilim were no-shit giants descended from gods. And that turns up again and again in ancient myths. The Sumerians really did thing the Anunnaki – giant gods – invented us as slave labor after their previous slaves revolted. Mixed clay and the blood of a dead god to do it.
When Yanweh is ordering the Israelites to slaughter and commit genocide, he’s specifically doing it against towns of the Canaanites associated with the surviving Nephilim. When killing is discussed explicitly, it’s always in the highland territories associated with the Nephilim.
The Nephilim were the reason Yahweh flooded the Earth.
If Sumerian texts aren’t science-fiction-y enough for modern archaeologists, the Book of Enoch is pretty fucking clear and undeniable.
Weirder still to modern readers is that Yahweh oversaw a council of gods. A “divine council.” The Bible kind of clearly references humans pre-Adam. Some scholars believe that Adam was a priest of a great temple and not a literal garden which makes a lot of sense. And when Cain kills Abel, god says he will be persecuted by all, but not killed. He flees to live in a city. Who the fuck was occupying this city if Adam was the first man?
I’m not Christian so none of this bothers me from any theological perspective anymore than the Sumerian shit. But it’s kind of interesting in terms of what it says about the ancient world and even as it relates to actual history and the perception of humanity’s development at that time.
The modern interpretations are simplified and sanitized while being thousands of years removed from their primary cultural context. In short, things that would have been more obvious to ancient readers and taken for granted are lost to moderns. And then there’s the stuff that’s so out of whack with how we perceive the world in modern day that we can’t take something seriously.
Oral history and tradition plays banana phone – news at eleven.
‘Yeah, but we’re the good guys in my version.’
It’s not oral tradition. It’s explicitly not. These were the first civilizations with writing. Pompous dismissive douchebag who is nowhere near as intelligent as he thinks he is acts like pompous dismissive douchebag – film at eleven.
You do know oral tradition still reigned even with the invention of written word right? – TikTok at noon
Everything discussed above is written text and you have no real point. There are things not outright stated, but that’s true of just about everything produced in modern day as well. It’s just cultural context. Things that readers would pick up. And then you add in that this is a translated work passed down through thousands of years.
So no, I don’t find anything you said to offer any particular insight here. It’s just about the most bland dismissive comment one could make and sort of the problem underneath the surface. Shit just gets all passed off as some goofy tradition – in this case an oral one despite being explicitly written down – and any meaning to it is kind of lost or reinterpreted.
Most people reading their Bible don’t seem all that interested in understanding it in its original cultural context let alone thinking about what may – if anything – have actually inspired the ideas behind it.
You might or might not like this:
https://shop.thegreatcourses.com/gnosticism-from-nag-hammadi-to-the-gospel-of-judas#
The early conflicts with Christianity and where they diverge I found fascinating.
It does touch on some of the things that you mentioned.
“The modern interpretations are simplified and sanitized while being thousands of years removed from their primary cultural context. ”
You bet. Recently I read some little pinko’s comment that the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitudes with just a couple of loaves and fishes was a call for Christians to redistribute the abundant wealth of today’s world to ensure that everyone has enough to eat. I’ve yet to see a Bible that contains anything about Christ ordering his disciples to send soldiers with spears to round up said loaves and fishes from every reluctant baker, fisherman, etc. who had other plans for his inventory.
Oh, that’s too easy for them: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s” just means ‘Obey the State and when it tells you to give ’em shit, ya give it to ’em and don’t you dare complain, you fascistic bigot.’
No shortage of atheists so assured of their own morality (greed masquerading as such) that think this is the ultimate gotcha on Christians/conservatives.
Government as an instrument of good is taken for granted from the dumb to the supposed intellectuals these days. Universal suffrage and democracy have pulled the wool over the eyes and blinded people to the true nature of what government is. It’s a question few ever really ask themselves.
I never said the surviving sources weren’t written. Written texts can preserve earlier oral material. Written material gets read and retold orally, traditions influence later texts, texts get copied and translated, and communities reinterpret all of it along the way.
Your point about recovering the original cultural context is interesting. The certainty with which we sometimes claim to know exactly what ancient people understood is what I was poking at.
Did somebody say oral?
Oral Roberts, Oral Hirschiser…
Moral Oral
I’ll take Oral Hirsch 59 scoreless times in a row, purposefully and playfully teasing together, if it’s the Ms. Hirsch I’m imagining it to be. Hands down, my biggest regret in my life, not understanding, being too childishly apprehensive, and missing an opportunity that, no joke, woulda altered my life’s trajectory in impossible to say, but undoubtedly powerful ways.
That was almost exactly a full score(!!) ago! Time is such a strange little Mobius strip. (Oooh, classy pubic design. Would follow.)
Interesting article, PM, though as with others I didn’t understand the medical business. I have a little more experience at getting old than most of you, perhaps not wiser but it is what it is.
Diet: My wife eats rice and noodles 2X a day, plus oatmeal for breakfast, with a squirt of honey. Small amounts of meat but again she’s a smaller person, at 100 lbs. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables and some cooked. Potatoes not often, fresh fruit 3X a day. I eat a large fresh salad, some meat, and a piece of fruit lunch and dinner. Breakfast is oatmeal with a couple prunes, a spoonful of raisins and honey.
We don’t do much physical work. Mrs F is a couple years older than I am, she’s beginning to have cognitive problems, memory, etc. She takes care of the kitchen, does a little cooking, mostly big quantities that she freezes and I eat. We eating more of the frozen meals, some Asian, some Marie Callendar style. We’ve had some cooking incidences that fortunately were resolved before any serious damage was done. I try to watch things when she’s using the range. Walking is getting more difficult, she uses a cane outside and I help her. Inside she uses furniture to hold on to. I limp along and only walk short distances. When we’re ice/snow free I use a lawn tractor in the yard.
We have a stairlift, I don’t use it, Mrs F uses it to go up/down. I use the hand rail and carefully walk up/down. I use a walker at night in the house. I can use the tiller in the garden and snowblower in the winter, both are self propelled and I do OK when I have the handles to hold. Shopping with a cart is OK. I can drive for about 45 minutes before my feet decide to quit communicating with me.
I’m at the point where I’ll lose words or names and can’t pull them out. My friends have similar problems so we help one another with the vocabulary. It seems to me that it takes a couple years from the point where we notice others with problems until they disappear, either to a facility or permanently.
Thanks, PM.
Was thinking about you earlier, 4×20. If you’ve ever got time and inclination, I know I’d particularly love to read about your story. It could be anything, and I’d read it, but I was thinking of the biggest differences you’ve seen occur in our species in your lifetime. Dad’s 77 in 80 minutes and I know about his take on Abingdon, VA back in his day, but I’m always curious what stands out to people the most.
I second your thanks to PM.
Soldier on!
Lately I get some balance and/or hip issues now and then – after a couple nasty tumbles in the last year and with some bone issues I find my myself a little apprehensive walking around outside especially now in a new city with terrible sidewalks. I have a pushcart that I enjoy pushing home from the grocery store with much greater confidence.
Are t you supposed to steel a shopping cart in the big city?
I have shamelessly ridden the electric cart at Home Depot and had my boy push me around in a wheelchair at Costco in the last two weeks.
That’s a very nice cart, but I’m very sorry to hear your legs are that bad.
I get a lot of interested comments on that thing. I’ve had it 4 years and it’s still in perfect shape.
Legs are fine – some aches in the hippal region but really the best thing is to get off my ass and walk around every 10 or 15 minutes. If I don’t I’m hobbling for a minute or so until my body catches up. Outside I find that I have to be more wary than before, like watching out for mismatched sidewalk squares and whatnot. Stumbling or tripping is a real concern.
I used to give a youngster, totally in shape-coworker stick for using one of those “standing desks” things in the office but it’s not so funny anymore.
Next goal is to find a bed that doesn’t leave me feel crippled when I get up in the morning. WTF, sleep?
My dog is doing a number on me. Fucker sprawls across the bed and I have to fight with him to get him to move. He knows not to take my specific spot, but everything else is fair game. Back and knees are feeling it.
The Bro is younger than most here, but getting old and weak. And there’s always a seconder looking to shank you when you’re First.