This hormone could be the key to fighting Alzheimer’s

A 2021 study from Harvard School of Medicine reports that irisin, a hormone secreted by muscles during exercise, is a key to the fight against Alzheimer’s.

What is irisin?

Irisin is a recently discovered hormone. It was found just nine years ago in 2012 in the skeletons of lab mice and has since become a hot topic in the medical community. At first, researchers linked irisin to both weight loss and thermoregulation. But irisin was eventually linked to Alzheimer’s in a surprising way.

In this Harvard study published in Nature Metabolism, the genes of mice were genetically altered to eliminate irisin, causing newborn mice to be born with altered neurons in their hippocampi. Interestingly, the hippocampus is the first portion of the brain to show signs of Alzheimer’s, as its primary function is the storage of memories.

After these mice reached adulthood, some were injected with irisin to restore their hormonal levels to normal. These mice saw cognitive improvements. As a result, scientists believe irisin to be a potential therapeutic agent in the treatment of cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s.

You’ve heard it before …

A little exercise each day may keep dementia at bay.

You aren’t a mouse in a lab waiting to be injected with irisin, but you are a human being who can get their fair share of the helpful hormone irisin by exercising on a regular basis. It’s a known fact that exercise prevents Alzheimer’s and aids general cognitive functioning. But irisin, as mentioned before, does more than just help prevent neurodegeneration.

Alzheimer’s notably causes the formation of something called amyloid plaques, which are like solid collections of proteins between neurons in the brain. While it doesn’t target the amyloid plaques themselves, irisin does decrease neuroinflammation, and inflammation in general. This means that irisin doesn’t eliminate Alzheimer’s from one’s brain but it does help mitigate the effects in other ways.

Irisin has also been studied extensively for its ability to manage obesity, which is an enormous risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. As a thermoregulator, anti-inflammatory, and cognitive helper, this powerful little hormone is rumored to kick-start weight loss, as it appears at higher rates when one exercises frequently. Researchers posit that this is because of the way thermoregulation relates to weight loss, and that most of the calories you consume go to keeping your body at a healthy, reasonable temperature.

It stands to reason, then, that an increase in irisin, which is used to regulate body temperature, would require your body to use more energy and lose more weight. So if a little anti-inflammatory action isn’t enough, irisin is also lessening both the potential to contract Alzheimer’s — if you just get enough exercise to produce some.

How can you help mitigate your Alzheimer’s risk?

Maintain a healthy exercise regimen so that your body will continue to produce irisin in beneficial quantities. Irisin hasn’t been studied enough to definitively say where and how you can get it, but generally, it’s reliant on getting your blood pumping enough to break a sweat, forcing your body to focus energy on thermoregulation. Studies with mice note that irisin is created when the animals participate in aerobic activities, such as running on a wheel.

If you don’t happen to have any human-sized rodent exercise equipment at home, other cardio can also produce irisin, such as running, jumping jacks, or high-intensity interval-training workouts. Studies show that if you stick to an exercise regimen that’s both consistent and filled with aerobics, your irisin levels will rise in just eight weeks .

The more that researchers continue to investigate irisin, the more we may find that it in supplements, food, or other sources. But as of right now, the only way you can take advantage of this neurochemical helper is by letting your body do the work in creating irisin on its own.