Hacker News Reader

Comment by minsc__and__boo | Hacker News Reader

This is already possible for certain genetic disorders.

For late-life diseases though, it's likely they are linked to exposure to something during the individuals lifetime (i.e. parkinson's disease from pesticide exposure) and genetic makeup can only predict probabilities for susceptibility.

Alzheimer's specifically is thought to be linked to chronic aluminum exposure (e.g. water treatment, antiperspirant deodorant, etc.).

View on HN

I don't believe that your anecdote about aluminum exposure has been scientifically validated.

"At present, there is no strong evidence to support the fears that coming in to contact with metals through using equipment or through food or water increases your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/risk-factors-an...

That's why I said "thought to" instead of "proven to". There is enough evidence to show that aluminum in drinking water accelerates Alzheimer's [1], while the antiperspirant is hypothesized, but not proven or disproven yet.

[1] https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/152/1/59/139168

Do you have any sources on the antiperspirant bit? I feel like this has entered the influencer zeitgeist, but antiperspirants have been around forever and I have yet to see any studies linking the two.

Antiperspirant has been linked to all sorts of things, so far with little to no evidence. A few years ago it was breast cancer. It seems to be a favourite target among the alt-inclined crowd.

I thought PD and Alzheimers were both related/correlated to a misfolded protein that no one understands why it fucks up?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com