Exercise can prevent Alzheimer: Study

As per a study, if one exercises on daily basis, it helps produce a hormone called irisin that could prevent Alzheimer’s disease. 

The study published in Cell says that irisin may enhance neprilysin, which fights the brain-damaging abnormal protein amyloid beta. These protein clusters cause Alzheimer’s.

However, the study doesn’t prove that exercising improves the condition of Alzheimer’s patients. It says it is a mechanism through which exercises can help potentially. 

Earlier studies have also pointed out the benefits of walking and exercising in arresting dementia. In fact, one of the studies had shown that exercising for 30 minutes can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. 

The mechanism was not clearly known and was thought to be due to the improvement of metabolic markers. However, this study is important because it tells us how exercise-induced changes in irisin help to reduce inflammation and clear amyloid beta, a large membrane protein that normally plays an essential role in neural growth and repair. However, later in life, a corrupted form can destroy nerve cells, leading to the loss of thought and memory in Alzheimer’s disease.

Irisin actually helps in clearing amyloid beta plaques, thus preventing brain degeneration. It reduces brain inflammation by downregulating hyperexcitability of cells. It is a muscle-derived hormone that increases in the body following exercise. It regulates glucose and lipid metabolism in fat tissue and increases energy expenditure by accelerating the browning of white fat tissue. This study says that there may be a possible patho-physiological link through this enzyme which may make exercise help Alzheimer’s disease patients.