Last Updated on March 2, 2023 by Neelam Singh
Quick Take
A video on social media claims that Alzheimer’s disease is made by physicians and was not known forty years back. We fact-checked and found the claim to be Mostly False.
The Claim
A video on Facebook claims that Alzheimer’s disease is a physician-caused disease. The inefficiency of myelin which is a part of neurons is responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. Myelin is made of cholesterol and when doctors recommend their patients to a cholesterol-restricted diet and give cholesterol-lowering drugs, this worsens the myelin functioning to induce Alzheimer’s disease.
Fact Check
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that is characterised by a gradual decline in memory and thinking. This disease is caused by an abnormal buildup of proteins in and around the brain cells that shrinks and kills brain cells.
Is Alzheimer’s disease made by physicians?
Not exactly. No evidence confirms that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by physicians. We even found no evidence of who the speaker was, his credentials, or where and to whom he was presenting the information.
No scientific evidence was provided by the claimant of the video that can prove the claim made in the video. Even the claim ‘Alzheimer’s disease was not known forty years back’ is incorrect. The National Institute on Aging website informs that this brain disease was first discovered in 1906.
We asked Dr Abhishek Juneja, a renowned neurologist practicing in Delhi, to share his views on the claim. To this, he said, “Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder causing decline in cognition including memory dysfunction. It’s risk factors include sedentary lifestyle, metabolic syndrome, obesity and positive family history. Dietary changes like low fat diet help in avoiding some of these risk factors. Other risk factors including family history may not be preventable.”
We also found that the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown. The available evidence suggests that abnormal changes in myelin can induce Alzheimer’s disease. However, the available evidence only speculates about the relationship between poor diet affecting myelin to cause Alzheimer’s disease. We researched for the source of the claimed video and found a 2012 advisory issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This advisory reported concerns about short-term cognitive impairment that occurred in some users taking statins. Statins is a class of drugs used widely to reduce cholesterol. However, the report informs that the changes were temporary, rare and clinically insignificant to reach a conclusion.
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