Aim: To share only best-evidenced, high impact research findings in the brain sciences so that you can optimise your own brain health and resilience and actively avoid Alzheimer’s. With awareness we all have choice.

In May 2022 the Office of National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that dementia has become the UK’s biggest killer – surpassing both cardio-vascular disease and cancer for the first time. By 2030 it is on track to become the UK’s most expensive health condition. The WHO projects that the global dementia burden is set to triple by 2050 from today’s total of 50 million sufferers to more than 153 million.

If nothing changes, one in three of us will be directly affected by this disease – either caring for someone with the condition, developing it themselves, or both. Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) estimates that more than 636,000 of these cases could be avoided if people understood the evidence-based life-style risk factors involved. Once it has taken hold, Alzheimer’s pathology remains incurable, progressive and terminal. The only effective defence remains active prevention.

In the US alone ‘Big Pharma’ conducted 1,097 Alzheimer’s clinical drug trails (1995 – 2021) with 878 different drugs – at an estimated cost of US$ 42.5 billion. The recorded failure rate was a near perfect 100%. Researchers are now forced to admit that the ‘beta-amyloid’ hypothesis on which most of this research has been based, may have reached an impasse. The so-called recent ‘successful’ clinical trials with lecanemab and aducanab have been over-blown. As at the end of 2023 there is still no prospect of anything close to a silver bullet on the horizon.

The ‘Active Prevention of Alzheimer’s’ training course banishes myth and misunderstandings about dementia. Where confusion and inherent contradictions abound, New Synapse offers only clarity and precision. It offers a pragmatic range of simple ‘action steps’. These are scaffolded around the six pillars of brain health that maximise ‘cognitive reserve’. All six of these pillars are jointly echoed by Harvard Medical School’s latest teachings, the Lancet’s seminal Special Reports on Alzheimer’s, as well as many other leading neuro-scientific centres of excellence and medical institutions around the globe.

Alzheimer’s is not only the world’s most prevalent form of dementia – accounting for over 60% of the world’s burden, but also the most preventable. In contrast to the other 62 variants of the dementia syndrome, in the specific instance of Alzheimer’s genetic pre-disposition does not equal genetic pre-determination.

The latest research is unanimous; at least 42% of Alzheimer’s identified triggers are mitigable. The key is understanding exactly what you should consider doing, how and when to side-step this harrowing disease. We all need to share in this vital knowledge and understanding, if we are to minimise the chances of becoming an intolerable burden on our own loved ones.

The detailed content in each of the six brain health modules has been validated by an independent panel of three UK Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): a Senior GP (since retired), a MSc registered nutritionist (now completing her PhD) and an NHS prison psychologist. Delegates can choose between a 1-day (compressed) or 2-day (more sedate) package. Neither option requires any prior scientific knowledge.

All attendees will leave the course with a convincing grasp on exactly WHAT we all should at least consider doing, and WHY (through the lens of brain biology) – to side-step this cruel, identity-robbing and ultimately inevitably fatal disease. It’s important to understand that it’s never too late to start any of these health habits, but because the benefits are cumulative, it can never be too early either.

New Synapse is free of any influence, bias or commercial interest whatsoever. It exists only to bring the research insights of some of the brightest minds in brain science to your doorstep – in practical, pragmatic and actionable ways.

So, welcome to New Synapse and a world of deeply engaging and potentially life-changing science, set well apart from generic ‘well being’ snake-oil found elsewhere. Put yourself back in the driving seat.