Alzheimer’s Risk Test – It’s Real

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www.sciencemag.org Science, VOL 319, February 22, 2008, pg. 1022.



Text Summary
Alzheimer’s Risk Test – it’s real

This test was developed 15 years ago by Allen Roses at Duke. The world was not ready for this test at that time. This test, marketed by Smart Genetics, has solid science behind it. For $399 you can send a saliva sample for analysis for the APOE gene.

The question most scientists worry about is “can you take bad news?” The lack of a proven technology for treatment has led many scientists to say it should not be released.

It only measures relative risk, not a certainty. If you have two copies of the E4 allele gene you do have roughly 15 times the risk of the disease. If you have only one copy of the gene your risk of Alzheimer’s is roughly 3 times the risk higher than normal

I know how people feel when they are given information that there is a huge chance they may have a life altering disease state. I was told at age 37 that I had the “arteries of an 80 year old” when I had a CT of my abdomen that revealed a large amount of calcifications in my abdominal arteries. I had real life experience to go with my dread; my father had his first stroke at age 42 and never worked again. I can still see the man whom I admired most in the world lying in the hospital bed with half his body paralyzed.

By 1991 I had found the way to reverse my problem and today I have the “arteries of 16 year old”. The method to reverse my situation, albeit having won the Nobel Prize in 1998 has yet to be put into the practice of most physicians in America. I’m so glad I had no time for the phrase “it’s not proven yet”. I have followed the same principles to chase away the Alzheimer’s gene’s threat; find the best science and run with it.
www.sciencemag.org Science VOL 319 22February 2008 pg. 1022