Can dementia be cured before it sets in?He’s 84 years old, but he’s doing well |Health

The future of preventive medicine may depend on the continued brain health of Leroy Hood. In his decades-long career, he has made great strides in deciphering the molecular workings of the human body and uncovering possible early signs of disease. His goal, he told me, is to diagnose chronic diseases early, before symptoms appear. “Let’s pretend you never had to have cancer or diabetes or heart disease,” he says.

His goal is much like the promise Elizabeth Holmes made regarding disease prediction and prevention. It wasn’t until her company went bankrupt and she was convicted of fraud that she approached these big claims. She is scheduled to be released from prison on May 30.

While she was battling unrealistic promises to investors, Ms. Hood is in a very different kind of race with her own aging and genetic predisposition. He knows he has a genetic mutation called APOE4, which makes him, like about a quarter of the population, late-onset, thanks to the technology he helped develop. You are at a high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. And it’s too late for him. he is 84 years old. He says it will take him another eight years to finish what he started.

There is wise planning and discipline on his part. Every day he eats right, engages in a series of brain exercises, and does his 150 push-ups and 100 sit-ups. (There is evidence that exercise prevents dementia.)

Wellness experts have long hoped that medical tests will act like the ghosts of Christmas in the future, revealing scenarios that will happen if we don’t change our ways. Holmes’ grand promise often depended on painting just such a picture. However, as a consumer, it may be impossible to know whether testing and preventive treatment saved a life or whether testing failed. Hood wants to put health on a solid scientific foundation, backed by data and rigorous research.

Hood, one of the founders of a field called systems biology, has the background to do just that. He applies rigorous standards to the most troublesome, unpredictable and complex aspects of the human body.

When I pointed out the similarities with Holmes’ promises, he agreed. “She spins this story so compellingly,” he said. “I think it’s a lot more difficult for her than she imagined, but I’m sure she’ll do it.”

To make health predictions reliable and scientific, we need massive amounts of data not only on the genome, but also on the epigenome, proteome, microbiome (and several other ohms). It also requires a deeper understanding of how all these affect each other in complex ways. It is because Hood is working to understand how genes are influenced by other genes and how these genetic systems work in concert with other systems, including environmental factors and the microbiome. It is the symbiotic menagerie that shaped the field of systems biology it deals with. Bacteria that live in your body.

He summarized what he’s learned so far in a book he co-authored with research collaborator Nathan Price, The Age of Scientific Wellness, which was released last month. Price is now Chief Scientific Officer of a company called Thorn Halstek, which uses microbiome composition and other biological data to provide personalized health guidance.

The authors describe what they learned by giving 108 volunteers, called the Pioneer 100, almost every type of test imaginable. We then collected similar data from 5,000 customers, through a company called Arivale, who received an estimate of their biological age and an individualized plan for restoring their age compared to their chronological age. They wrote that on average women recovered 1.5 years and men 0.8 years. The company went out of business in 2019 for financial reasons, but each customer has added data and predictive power, much like navigation apps. The scientific mission has moved forward.

In this book, we learned how Hood and his family were affected by the APOE4 gene. His wife also had the same mutation and died of Alzheimer’s disease. By the time she turned 67, her symptoms had worsened beyond what would be considered normal forgetfulness.

Hood and his wife each carried the high-risk gene. Her daughter didn’t pass it on, but her son did, giving her a 60-70% chance of developing the disorder by her mid-60s. Exercise is known to reduce risk, and his son is an ultramarathoner, Hood said. About 30% of people with his genetic profile will not develop dementia, and he could definitely be one of them. And perhaps scientific health will find another way to mitigate the risks.

Genes are not destiny. Scientists continue to marvel at people whose genes defy their simple understanding. Some people whose genes indicate that they should develop a particular disease are fine, while others who should be fine become sick. Despite the complexity, Hood believes human health is much more predictable and controllable than it is today. The payoff for an overburdened healthcare sector could be enormous.

Hood’s story emphasizes the need not only to develop more accurate medical tests, but to learn more about interpreting the results. This nuance always seemed to Elizabeth Holmes to be avoided. An accurate but simplistic and clumsy interpretation of the APOE4 gene may baffle some people. No one knows why Hood is still going strong at 84–whether it’s some kind of relaxation gene or his actions like diet, brain exercises and push-ups. But if he gets his way, we will all know it.

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