Brain aging is not a choice. How you manage it is.
Age-related cognitive decline begins as early as age 35 — and decline is on the rise. “The incidence of cognitive issues is growing rapidly because we're living longer than ever. Modern medicine has our lifespan getting longer and longer, but our healthspan is not keeping up — and it's especially bad with our brains,” warns Dr. Rudy Tanzi, PhD, Co-Director of the Massachusetts General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
But you don’t need to sit by and await your fate. In fact, early intervention — between ages 35 to 55 — can slow and even cut dementia risk by 50%.
“People are understandably terrified of their brain deteriorating as they get older,” says Dugal Bain-Kim, founder and CEO at Lifeforce. “There has been this feeling of helplessness that there is nothing you can do except wait to find out if it happens to you. That’s a total misperception, and we’re changing it.”
Starting with Lifeforce’s Brain Protection Program. Developed in partnership with renowned brain researcher Dr. Tanzi, this comprehensive program was clinically developed to help futureproof your brain. Lifeforce members can screen for genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's and test advanced biomarkers strongly associated with dementia and cognitive decline. Members can also access Peak Cognition, the first and only natural supplement proven to help reduce the risk of two root causes that drive the development of Alzheimer’s.
“We want to give anyone who wants to be proactive access to evidence-based tools to take control and do it all from their homes,” says Bain-Kim.
Read on to learn more about these tools — and why it’s essential to start leveraging them now.
The Science Behind Cognitive Decline
To fully grasp how to combat Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, we first need to understand how it starts.
According to Dr. Tanzi, Alzheimer's begins with the accumulation of a sticky material called amyloid around the sides of the nerve cells. This leads to the formation of tangles, which are abnormal accumulations of a protein called tau. As amyloid deposits build up and nerve cells die, it induces neuroinflammation, which causes 10 to 100 times more neuron cells to die than the original plaques and tangles. This process culminates in symptoms of dementia.
As Dr. Tanzi puts it, “The amyloid is like a match. It lights a fire of tangles. They're like brush fires. They spread and keep spreading.” These brush fires eventually create a wildfire, neuroinflammation, which leads to cognitive symptoms.
So what strikes that initial match to create amyloid buildup in the first place? Dr. Tanzi cites three factors: 1) genetics, 2) lifestyle factors such as low-quality sleep, high stress levels, an unhealthy diet, and limited exercise, and 3) environmental factors including pollution, micro plastics, and nano plastics.
But if we catch the warning signs early enough, we have the power to blow out the match, Dr. Tanzi says. “Fortunately, we now have biomarkers that can be looked at with a blood test that can tell us if Alzheimer's pathology is in the brain,” he says. “We can know whether there's amyloid plaque and tangles in the brain. Optimally, we want to tell people that 10 to 30 years before there are going to be symptoms, so you can nip the disease in the bud.”
Our Solution: Introducing the Brain Protection Program
“The real future of ending Alzheimer's will be early prediction, early detection, and early intervention,” Dr. Tanzi says. We leverage all three in our Brain Protection Program.
The program includes:
1. Brain Protection Panel
In addition to the 50+ biomarkers measured in the Lifeforce Diagnostic, members can opt-in for additional screening as part of the Brain Protection Program. This includes research-grade brain biomarkers, previously unavailable to consumers, including:
ApoE - A one-time genetic test that looks at three ApoE gene variants to assess genetic risk for late-onset Alzheimer’s
pTau-217 - Detects tau tangles (phosphorylated tau protein) in the brain, especially useful for early detection of Alzheimer’s, before symptoms like memory loss or confusion appear
Beta-Amyloid 42/40 Ratio: Measures two forms of amyloid plaques (Aβ42 and Aβ40) in the blood to assess Alzheimer's risk and progression
GFAP - Detects evidence of brain injury or neuroinflammation via levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein
2. Cognitive Health Clinician
After receiving your bloodwork results, you’ll meet with a specially trained Lifeforce clinician for a 45-minute virtual consultation. The clinician will review your markers and tailor a personalized cognitive health plan just for you with actionable steps to support your brain.
3. First of Its Kind Supplement
Members on the program also get exclusive access to evidence-based treatments like Peak Cognition, the first supplement proven to help reduce the risk of two root causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Created in partnership with Dr. Tanzi, Peak Cognition is formulated based on lab testing of over 3,500 ingredients and backed by $10M in clinical trials.
Among the standout ingredients, which are all naturally-occurring molecules, “ipriflavone and urolithin A help clear the amyloid plaque that begins Alzheimer's disease,” explains Dr. Tanzi. “The other two, quercetin and fisetin, help bring down the neuroinflammation that drives most of the cell death that leads to cognitive impairment.”
4. Cutting-Edge Pharmaceutical Protocols
Members can also benefit from cutting-edge pharmaceutical interventions, including microdosing protocols based on their individual biomarker results and goals. For example, Lifeforce offers ezetimibe, an FDA-approved medication for lowering cholesterol, which may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, according to a 2024 study from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
5. Customized Lifestyle Strategies
Lastly, you’ll work one-on-one with your clinician and health coach on customized lifestyle strategies such as enhancing mental agility, minimizing vision and hearing loss, and supporting brain health through neuroprotective food choices.
You can now take advantage of all these tools to help futureproof your brain in the present moment. “I’ve spent my professional life researching brain health, and it’s incredibly exciting to see awareness growing and more people moving early to reduce their risks,” says Dr. Tanzi. With Lifeforce’s Brain Protection Program, “We're preventing cognitive decline in those who might be predisposed to it. And for those who have already begun the process, we're helping to slow it down dramatically.”
Lifeforce’s Brain Protection Program is now available to Lifeforce members. Learn more and get started HERE.
This article was medically reviewed by Vinita Tandon, MD, ABIM Board Certified in Endocrinology and Metabolism.
