I no longer subscribe to New Scientist so you'll have to ask your doctor what it says.
Have we found the true cause of diabetes, stroke and Alzheimer's?
The diseases most people die of have
been attributed to unhealthy lifestyles. But evidence now suggests
bacteria are to blame, heralding a revolution in medicine

Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library
Too much red meat, too little fruit and veg, smoking, drinking, obesity and not enough exercise appear to make all these diseases more likely – and having any of them makes getting the others more likely. But no one really knows why, and we still haven’t worked out what causes any of them. Alzheimer’s is now one of the UK’s biggest killers, yet the main hypothesis for how it originates imploded this year after drugs based on it repeatedly failed. High blood cholesterol is blamed for heart attacks, except most people who have heart attacks don’t have it.
What we do know is that these conditions usually start causing symptoms later in life, and their prevalence is skyrocketing as we live longer. They all turn inflammation, the method our immune system uses to kill invaders, against us. And, by definition, these diseases aren’t communicable. They are down to bad habits and unlucky genes, not germs. Right?
No comments:
Post a Comment