Alzheimer's disease and ethics

The notion that science has little, if anything, to say on human values and ethical behaviour is challenged in a book by Harris (2010) where he argues that human knowledge and human values can no longer be kept apart and that – in principle at least – science can help determine what we ought to do if we are to live the best lives possible.

Given this context, how might the knowledge acquired from the scientific approach to treatments for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) influence the values that could shape the ethical landscape surrounding this issue? AD is the commonest cause of dementia in the UK, affecting around one in 14 people over the age of 65 years and one in six people over the age of 80 years (NHS, 2022). The need for effective preventive and therapeutic treatments for AD is acute but given the current lack of success in addressing it, Daly et al (2021) warn that some clinicians may be tempted into undertaking ethically questionable therapies. For example, ‘some clinicians engage in so-called “innovative practice” for AD patients without robust supporting evidence’, and by way of illustration Daly et al (2021) cite the popular metabolic enhancement for neurodegeneration (MEND) protocol, central to which are modalities like diet, supplementation, sleep, stress, and metabolic markers (eg heavy metals, oxidative stress, insulin, inflammation). MEND, say Daly et al (2021) ‘is based on papers published in 2014 and 2016 by Dale Bredesen and colleagues in the journal Aging’ and Daly et al (2021) further claim that the evidence favouring such interventions is overstated in the scientific and lay press, with weak data and uncertainty about conclusions ignored.