Drugs that tamp down inflammation in the brain could slow cognitive decline

Alternatively, you can quite dramatically reduce inflammation in the brain via some simple lifestyle modifications (cutting out sugar, intermittent fasting):<p>Mattson, Mark P., Keelin Moehl, Nathaniel Ghena, Maggie Schmaedick, and Aiwu Cheng. “Intermittent Metabolic Switching, Neuroplasticity and Brain Health.” Nature Reviews. Neuroscience 19, no. 2 (February 2018): 63–80. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;nrn.2017.156" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;nrn.2017.156</a>.<p>Pinto, Alessandro, Alessio Bonucci, Elisa Maggi, Mariangela Corsi, and Rita Businaro. “Anti-Oxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Ketogenic Diet: New Perspectives for Neuroprotection in Alzheimer’s Disease.” Antioxidants 7, no. 5 (April 28, 2018). <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.3390&#x2F;antiox7050063" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.3390&#x2F;antiox7050063</a>.<p>Gao, Yuanqing, Maximilian Bielohuby, Thomas Fleming, Gernot F. Grabner, Ewout Foppen, Wagner Bernhard, Mara Guzmán-Ruiz, et al. “Dietary Sugars, Not Lipids, Drive Hypothalamic Inflammation.” Molecular Metabolism 6, no. 8 (June 20, 2017): 897–908. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;j.molmet.2017.06.008" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;j.molmet.2017.06.008</a>.<p>White, Hayden, Karthik Venkatesh, and Bala Venkatesh. “Systematic Review of the Use of Ketones in the Management of Acute and Chronic Neurological Disorders.” Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience 08, no. 02 (2017). <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.21767&#x2F;2171-6625.1000188" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.21767&#x2F;2171-6625.1000188</a>.<p>Alirezaei, Mehrdad, Christopher C. Kemball, Claudia T. Flynn, Malcolm R. Wood, J. Lindsay Whitton, and William B. Kiosses. “Short-Term Fasting Induces Profound Neuronal Autophagy.” Autophagy 6, no. 6 (August 16, 2010): 702–10. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.4161&#x2F;auto.6.6.12376" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.4161&#x2F;auto.6.6.12376</a>.<p>Mattson, Mark P. “Energy Intake, Meal Frequency, and Health: A Neurobiological Perspective.” Annual Review of Nutrition 25 (2005): 237–60. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1146&#x2F;annurev.nutr.25.050304.092526" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1146&#x2F;annurev.nutr.25.050304.092526</a>.<p>This incidentally also reduces system-wide inflammation among other benefits as well:<p>Houtman, Judith, Kiara Freitag, Niclas Gimber, Jan Schmoranzer, Frank L. Heppner, and Marina Jendrach. “Beclin1‐driven Autophagy Modulates the Inflammatory Response of Microglia via NLRP3.” The EMBO Journal, January 7, 2019, e99430. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.15252&#x2F;embj.201899430" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.15252&#x2F;embj.201899430</a>.<p>Camell, Christina, Emily Goldberg, and Vishwa Deep Dixit. “Regulation of Nlrp3 Inflammasome by Dietary Metabolites.” Seminars in Immunology 27, no. 5 (September 2015): 334–42. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;j.smim.2015.10.004" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1016&#x2F;j.smim.2015.10.004</a>.<p>Yamanashi, Takehiko, Masaaki Iwata, Naho Kamiya, Kyohei Tsunetomi, Naofumi Kajitani, Nodoka Wada, Takahiro Iitsuka, et al. “Beta-Hydroxybutyrate, an Endogenic NLRP3 Inflammasome Inhibitor, Attenuates Stress-Induced Behavioral and Inflammatory Responses.” Scientific Reports 7, no. 1 (August 9, 2017): 7677. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;s41598-017-08055-1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;s41598-017-08055-1</a>.<p>Youm, Yun-Hee, Kim Y. Nguyen, Ryan W. Grant, Emily L. Goldberg, Monica Bodogai, Dongin Kim, Dominic D’Agostino, et al. “Ketone Body β-Hydroxybutyrate Blocks the NLRP3 Inflammasome-Mediated Inflammatory Disease.” Nature Medicine 21, no. 3 (March 2015): 263–69. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;nm.3804" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;nm.3804</a>.<p>Marín‐Aguilar, Fabiola, Ana V. Lechuga‐Vieco, Elísabet Alcocer‐Gómez, Beatriz Castejón‐Vega, Javier Lucas, Carlos Garrido, Alejandro Peralta‐Garcia, et al. “NLRP3 Inflammasome Suppression Improves Longevity and Prevents Cardiac Aging in Male Mice.” Aging Cell 0, no. 0 (n.d.): e13050. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1111&#x2F;acel.13050" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1111&#x2F;acel.13050</a>.<p>Xiao, Yichen, Wenna Xu, and Wenru Su. “NLRP3 Inflammasome: A Likely Target for the Treatment of Allergic Diseases.” Clinical and Experimental Allergy: Journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology 48, no. 9 (2018): 1080–91. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1111&#x2F;cea.13190" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1111&#x2F;cea.13190</a>.<p>Bugyei-Twum, Antoinette, Armin Abadeh, Kerri Thai, Yanling Zhang, Melissa Mitchell, Golam Kabir, and Kim A. Connelly. “Suppression of NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation Ameliorates Chronic Kidney Disease-Induced Cardiac Fibrosis and Diastolic Dysfunction.” Scientific Reports 6 (December 21, 2016). <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;srep39551" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1038&#x2F;srep39551</a>.

Wouldn&#x27;t it be better and more effective to treat the cause of the inflammation instead?

From the perspective of a non-biologist reader only seeing popular articles, the past ten years have been completely bewildering. Nutrition has seemingly been boiled down to a couple of magic totems that are always simplistically either good or bad.<p>Antioxidants are good.<p>Inflammation is bad.<p>Telomeres are good.<p>Carbs are bad.<p>All the &quot;bad&quot; things get associated with each other and anti-associated with the good things. Carbs have less antioxidants, which prevent inflammation, which shortens telomeres. Everything is associated in a completely mysterious way to &quot;the gut&quot;. Carbs are bad. Why? The gut. We read this in more words and nod sagely. It gives me the feeling of reading a children&#x27;s picture book.<p>Biology isn&#x27;t supposed to be this simple. If inflammation were always bad, our bodies wouldn&#x27;t have evolved to do it. I&#x27;m not saying the science is wrong, I&#x27;m sure it&#x27;s well thought out, but something is getting severely oversimplified in the leap to popular articles, to the point that I don&#x27;t trust any nutrition advice based on the pop science. Does anybody know of a better source?

Aside from the drugs mentioned, read &quot;Why We Sleep&quot; by Matthew Walker and all the natural hormonal drugs that happen when one consistently sleeps.

Inflammation in all parts of the body seem to be problematic and the source of all kinds of disease and other sorts of deficiencies. What sorts of studies and preventative treatments are leading this field?

What actually is inflammation?

Drugs are the only cause of psychological and physical affect of the inflammation in the brain

Chronic inflammation appears to be caused by persistent self-stimulation -- eating for comfort or pleasure, not getting enough sleep, chain-smoking, getting high, etc, without respite. So it&#x27;s not really a biological problem. It&#x27;s a widespread personal problem with complex biological consequences.