Think Thursday: Alzheimer’s Prevention and What the Latest Research Tells UsThink Thursday: Alzheimer’s Prevention and What the Latest Research Tells Us
The Alcohol Minimalist Podcast
Molly Watts shares current research on Alzheimer’s diagnosis, treatment and risk, with a strong focus on lifestyle factors that may influence long-term brain health. The conversation balances scientific detail with realistic, practical ideas for everyday habits that could support cognitive wellbeing.
18:11•24 Sept 2026
Alzheimer’s, Brain Health and What You Can Actually Influence
Episode Overview
- New Alzheimer’s blood tests, including biomarkers like ptau217, are helping primary care doctors improve diagnostic accuracy and identify disease earlier.
- Current drugs such as lecanemab and donanemab can slow, but not stop or reverse, early Alzheimer’s in some people and come with significant risks and monitoring needs.
- The 2024 Lancet Commission highlights 14 potentially modifiable dementia risk factors, many tied to cardiovascular and metabolic health, alcohol use and mental health.
- Large lifestyle trials show better cognitive outcomes when movement, nutrition, social and cognitive engagement, and cardiovascular care are combined in a structured way.
- Practical steps include knowing blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, staying active, protecting hearing and vision, staying socially connected and continuing to learn and challenge the brain.
“Cardiovascular health is brain health. Metabolic health is brain health.”
Curious about how others keep their brains healthy as they age? This Think Thursday instalment of The Alcohol Minimalist Podcast steers the focus to Alzheimer’s disease and what current science is saying about prevention, risk and early treatment.
Mindful drinking and behaviour change coach Molly Watts keeps things grounded in reality, reminding everyone that Alzheimer’s is still a serious, complex illness: “I never want this to turn into the suggestion that someone who develops the disease somehow did something wrong.” From there, she walks through how the story around diagnosis is shifting, especially with new blood-based biomarkers like ptau217 that are boosting primary care doctors’ diagnostic accuracy from about 65% to roughly 93%.
She also breaks down what the new medications lecanemab and donanemab can actually do. There’s no miracle cure here, but as she puts it, it’s meaningful that these treatments can “slow the progression of the disease in some people who are diagnosed early enough,” while still stressing the side effects, limitations and need for careful monitoring. For anyone worried about their long-term brain health—especially habit drinkers and adult children of alcoholics—the heart of the episode sits with lifestyle.
Molly talks through the 14 potentially modifiable dementia risk factors from the 2024 Lancet Commission and highlights how often they overlap with cardiovascular and metabolic health. As she says, “Cardiovascular health is brain health. Metabolic health is brain health.” She shares results from large lifestyle studies showing better cognitive outcomes when people combine movement, nutrition, social connection, cognitive challenge and medical care into a more structured routine. The practical message?
Know your numbers, move your body, look after hearing and vision, stay socially connected and keep learning—without chasing perfection. If you’ve ever wondered what’s actually within your control for brain health, this episode might get you asking: what’s one small change you could start today for your future self?
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