You Just Found Out You Carry The APOE4 Gene. Watch This First.

[0:00]So you just found out you carried the ApoE4 gene Maybe it was a 23andMe report Maybe your doctor ran a test after your mom's diagnosis. Maybe you were scrolling through your raw data at two in the morning and now you can't sleep And the first thing you did was to Google it or to ChatGPT it and what you found terrified you.

[0:21]I know because I've been exactly where you are. My name is Doctor Kevin Tran. I'm a doctor pharmacy and I am an ApoE4/4 carrier Which, as you know, means that it's the highest genetic risk category for Alzheimer's disease. When I found out, I actually spiraled very hard. And I read every worst case study.

[0:43]I kind of look at my life and thought my future was disappearing. But here is what I want to tell you right now in the first five minutes of this video, before we get into any science. You are not your genotype. Your genes load the gun, but you decide whether to pull the trigger or not.

[1:05]And I hope by the end of this video you are going to understand exactly why that is so true and exactly what to do about it. Starting today. All right, let's start with the basics, because the internet is terrible at explaining this. ApoE stands for apolipoprotein E It's a gene on chromosome 19 that helps your body transport cholesterol and fats, including in your brain.

[1:31]Everyone has two copies of every gene. There are three common versions APOE2, APOE3, and APOE4 ApoE3 is basically the most common version. Most people have two copies of that, which means they are ApoE3/3 That's basically the baseline you'll be looking at. ApoE4 is the variant associated with increased Alzheimer's risk about 25%.

[1:53]One quarter of the population carries at least one copy of the APoE4 gene And if you have one copy, it basically means that you are likely to be ApoE3/4 which is called heterozygous. If you have two copies like me, you are ApoE4/4 That's being homozygous. Now here's the critical thing that every headline tends to get wrong.

[2:13]ApoE4 is a risk factor. It's not a diagnosis. ApoE4 increases your odds of developing Alzheimer's one copy depending on your ethnicity and the rest of the gene typically increases your risk about 2 to 4 fold compared to baseline. Two copies can increase it up to 15 fold. I know those numbers sound scary, but here's what those numbers actually mean when you look at the real data.

[2:41]First, you have to know that around 70% of all others in most cases are from ApoE4 carriers, which means that when we solve Alzheimer's for ApoE4 carriers, we basically solve Alzheimer's all together. Second is that the largest genetic meta analysis on ApoE and Alzheimer's looked at thousands of carriers across multiple population.

[3:01]And here's what they found. If you are ApoE3/4 with one copy, your lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia by age 85 is roughly 30%. which means. And I want you to really hear this. 70% of people with one ApoE4 copy will never develop Alzheimer's, dementia. Now, if you are ApoE4/4 like me, like two copies, the numbers are higher.

[3:26]Roughly 60% lifetime risk by 85. The numbers can get a bit worse if you are Asian like me. They can flap up to 80, 85% But even then, around 40% of ApoE4/4 carriers might never develop clinical dementia. Now, a 2024 study in Nature Medicine made headlines claiming that APOE4 homozygosity is basically a "genetic form" of Alzheimer's The media kind of went wild with that a few years back.

[3:58]But here's what the study actually showed. Nearly all ApoE4/4 carriers show biomarker changes, which are proteins in the spinal fluid. amyloid on brain scans by age 65, but biomarker changes are not dementia. As multiple researchers pointed out in response. Biological penetrance is not the same as clinical penetrance.

[4:22]Basically, your brain can show early signs of the process without you ever developing symptoms, especially if you start interventions. So the gap between your biology and the disease, That's where everything I'm about to tell you leads that gap is your opportunity. Now here's the part that changed everything for me when I found it.

[4:44]There's this landmark trial called finger. This is for the Finnish geriatric Intervention Study, is the first large randomized control trial to show that a combination of lifestyle changes, diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk management can actually prevent cognitive decline in at risk people. so that alone is a huge deal.

[5:06]But what really matters for us is what happened when they looked at the ApoE4 subgroup in 2018 Solomon and colleagues published the subgroup analysis in JAMA Neurology They found that ApoE4 carriers in the intervention group showed a numerically greater cognitive benefit an annual NTB score change of 0.037 compared to 0.014 for non carrier.

[5:30]So basically, you want to remember that is roughly 2.6 times the effect size. So that basically means that you are more receptive to changes. And interventions that you can do. So I hope this is a lot of motivation for you to start acting on your lifestyle to improve your chances of not getting Alzheimer's.

[5:55]And in general, you have a lot of different studies showing that basically we tend to benefit more from everything. There's another study from a 2025 meta analysis. Where Lehtisalo and colleagues pooled data from three independent trials FINGER in Finland, MAPT in France, and J-MINT in Japan across different population and different countries.

[6:18]And when you combine all three, the result is really statistically significant. A clear interaction showing ApoE4 carriers consistently benefit more from lifestyle intervention. So this is the most important thing for you to understand right now. Your AP for status doesn't mean lifestyle changes won't work. It means they may work much better for you than for someone without ApoE4 So you have a lot more reasons to take action, not less.

[6:46]And what I like to say in the community we are basically just higher stakes. Now, before I walk you through the four specific things that start with this week, I want to make sure you have something you can take with you after this video. So you're not just here like scrambling notes and everything.

[7:00]I put together a free guide, a free PDF guide called The Essential Guide to Thriving with ApoE4 It goes deeper into everything we're covering today. The research the specific protocols, the mechanism of action, the biomarkers to track in a format that you can save, print and come back to whenever needed.

[7:19]Because I know right now you are basically absorbing a lot of information, and probably in a week when the initial panic phase and you're ready to actually build a plan, you are going to want a reference. So the link for that free guide is in the description of this video below.

[7:32]And I also put it in the pinned comment. It's completely free. There's no catch. Alright let's get into your protocol now. Let's start with your first week. I'm going to give you four things, not 50, because you'll never do that. Not a stack of supplements because you'll get super overwhelmed.

[7:50]For things that have the strongest evidence for ApoE4 carriers, specifically. One. Move your body especially hard. So, a 2021 meta analysis looked at randomized controlled trials on exercise and cognitive function in ApoE4 carriers versus non carriers. And the finding was nuanced. Exercise benefits cognitive performance across both groups.

[8:15]But the effect of intensity differs by genotype at low to moderate intensity. Carriers and non carriers benefits similarly at high intensity. The differential effect was large, though in that analysis it favored non carriers on aggregate. However, a 2025 systematic review found that ApoE4 carriers benefited more than non carriers specifically on executive function and learning outcomes after exercise interventions suggesting the picture is probably more complex than any single meta analysis can capture.

[8:49]So here's what this means for you practically. You don't need to run a marathon, But you do need to get your heart rate up. So you want to do zone two cardio. This is where you can still talk, but it's comfortable. Remember we have a video on exercising for ApoE4 carriers and you want to get this zone to cardio for at least 150 minutes per week, plus 2 to 3 sessions of strength training.

[9:12]And if you can, at least one session of HIIT or where a session where you basically shoot your heart rate as high as possible. If you do nothing else on this list that I'm giving you in this video, just do this one exercise. Because exercise is one of the most evidence supported interventions for brain health.

[9:33]And emerging research suggests ApoE4 carriers may see particularly cognitive benefits, especially in areas like executive function, which is particularly important. The second on this list by priority, is to start eating Mediterranean diet we are talking about olive oil, fish, vegetable, nuts. So a 2025 observational study in natural medicine found something remarkable.

[9:56]Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with more effective modulation of 57 dementia related metabolites in ApoE4 homicides, compared to non carriers. Read that again. The diet wasn't just associated with benefit. The association was actually stronger in ApoE4 carriers at the metabolic level. So you don't need to overhaul your kitchen tonight.

[10:19]But here's your day one version. You want to have more olive oil, more fatty fish, more vegetables, more nuts and seeds. And you want to kill all processed food, reduce red meat, and you want to reduce as much as possible sugar, especially processed sugar. So the mind diet, which is a Mediterranean-DASH hybrid specifically studied for brain health, is another excellent framework.

[10:45]Start with one meal a day that is fully Mediterranean and try to build from there Number three in your list is to protect your sleep. Again, we've had videos about sleep. On this channel I suggest you listen to these, but sleep is probably one of the most underrated interventions.

[11:01]but sleep is probably one of the most underrated interventions. In fact, when I was still working in corporate for Big Pharma, everyone was so proud of saying, they managed to sleep only like 5 or 6 hours every night because everyone is running on coffee or something else. And myself, I was very, proud of this grinding culture and this is so wrong A human imaging study showed that even a single night of sleep deprivation resulted in measurable amyloid beta accumulation in the hippocampus The hippocampus, for those of you who don't know, is the brain's memory centers.

[11:35]We definitely want to take care of that one. And here's where ApoE4 matter. Specifically, animal research suggests that sleep deprivation in the context of ApoE4 creates a feed forward loop, which is poor. Sleep accelerates amyloid buildup, which then further disrupt sleep, which accelerates more buildup. So you get this entire vicious cycle that is like terrible.

[11:56]So this loop appears to be specific to ApoE4 carriers and not for ApoE3 carriers. Now some of these data is from animal models. So I want to be like really honest or not, that animal models are definitely not as robust as human models. As you may know, we have already cured alzheimer's in animals and we are very far from it. In humans. so.

[12:19]But you have to know that the human amyloid data is real and the mechanism makes biological senses. So your action item this week is to sleep 7 to 9 hours consistent bed time, cool dark room, no screens an hour before bed. You don't want to get excited right before going to sleep.

[12:38]If you have sleep apnea symptoms like snoring, daytime fatigue, get a sleep study. I can't emphasize how much of the ROI like return on investment is a sleep study. Just do one and then you will be, sure that you don't have sleep apnea. So this is really important for ApoE4 carriers.

[12:58]Number four in that list is to know your number. So you want to build a baseline before starting to do interventions because you want to know if whatever you are doing is working or not. So research shows that vascular risk factors for example, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, insulin resistance are preferentially associated with brain pathology in ApoE4 carriers.

[13:20]But that mean is the same blood pressure reading that might be okay for someone without ApoE4 could be doing more damage in your brain. And this is why inside the Phoenix community, we have an entire app where you can upload your blood work, and then you can see ApoE4 specific ranges, because what is normal for other people can be out of range and can be dangerous for you.

[13:44]And then you have interventions on how to improve these different biomarkers where you are out of range. So I want you to get a comprehensive blood panel. I want you to know your blood pressure, your fasting glucose. your ApoB your HbA1c So The Lancet Commission in 2024 identified 14 modifiable risk factors for dementia.

[14:04]And many of them are vascular. And their conclusion of that study is that up to 45% of all dementia cases could potentially be prevented or delayed 45%. It's not me being optimistic. That's The Lancet Commission, one of the most conservative medical bodies in the world. All right. You have your list of four tools.

[14:24]I hope that's not too much. If you can only start with those, that would be already great. But now I want to save you some pain by telling you what not to do. Because I kind of did, almost all of these So don't spiral on Google at 3 a.m., you will find terrifying studies, worst case projections, and forum post from people who are not scientists.

[14:48]So close your laptop, come back to this video instead, and go read, our guides and dive deep into research by people who understand the research. Don't go and buy 30 supplements tomorrow. I know the temptation. You want to do something right now. Popping pills is easiest thing to do.

[15:07]then Much easier than going to exercise or to fix your sleep or fix your diet. Unfortunately, there is no miracle pill that exists out there. The four pointers I give you will probably do much, much more. Probably 80% of results compared to the 10 20%. Even if you maximize your supplements protocol, because a lot of these supplements have very weak evidence, you have issues with the dosage, with your purity.

[15:35]Sometimes there's even contaminants, which might be counterproductive. And worst case is you won't even know what it does to you. Let's say you take 15 different supplements. How do you know which of these 15 are working, which are not? And it works well together. And you are going to take all of those for the rest of your life.

[15:54]So inside our app, inside the Phoenix Community app, we have a way for you to derive insights based on your blood work your daily check ins, and a lot of other information from other members where we can then isolate which supplements that you are taking, leads to which results.

[16:13]But I believe that is a step further. So I want you to really lock in the protocol that I gave you those four different steps for the first month or so, and then look at the supplements afterwards. Because I promise you, stacking supplements without a plan can definitely do more harm than good.

[16:29]And what is very important is try to not isolate yourself. It's probably the biggest one. Do not carry this alone. Don't keep it from your partner. Don't pretend that you are fine. The reveal study, the largest study on ApoE4 disclosure, show that learning your status does not cause lasting psychological harm.

[16:46]When you have support. No significant increase in anxiety. No significant increase in depression. But that last part, when you have support, is what matters. Instead the Phoenix community We have workshops to, teach you and help you communicate that you carry ApoE4 with your close ones. Those are sometimes published on YouTube, sometimes not is completely private to the community for the, privacy of our members, where we tend to run these workshops relatively frequently because sharing your ApoE4 status with your close ones is typically a topic that comes up very often.

[17:19]I think it's a good transition to tell you that you are not alone. That's why I built, the Phoenix community when I got my results. I look for other people like me, people who had the ApoE4 gene and were actually doing something about it. And unfortunately, I could not really find them.

[17:35]My doctor told me to come back when I'm symptomatic. They basically basically scarfed me away. And support groups were full of fear. Everyone was paralyzed. It felt, and it felt like I was alone with a spreadsheet of interventions and no idea what to prioritize and no idea how to do that.

[17:53]So Phoenix is what I wish existed when I found out about my status. It's a community of over 450 ApoE4 carriers today at the moment of recording of this video. And we have four new members every day, and we are all actively optimizing our health and more than a third of our members are actually healthcare professionals.

[18:15]So that doctors, neurologists, geneticists and so on. And we track our biomarkers together. We run experiments, we share what's working, and we also have accountability pods, which are grouped monthly, where small groups are basically, grouped by health stage and goals every month. So nobody does this alone. And here's the part I'm most proud of because we have hundreds of ApoE4 carriers tracking.

[18:41]the health data we are now a community that pharma companies come to for clinical trial recruitment. Our members get early access to therapies that are years from the market. That's basically collective power on top of getting like discounts and everything, for the supplement stack. So if you are watching this video and you feel like you just got hit by a truck, I completely get it. That feeling is real.

[19:03]But it doesn't last. And you don't have to figure this out alone. There's a link to Phoenix in the description. Come see what hundreds of ApoE4 carriers are building together. come see how and what it looks like. Okay, let me leave you with this 2024 study found that social engagement and mindfulness have stronger effects on cognitive reserve, specifically for ApoE4 carriers compared to non carriers.

[19:25]That means community isn't just nice to have, it's actually neuroprotective. You didn't choose this gene, but you get to choose what you do with this information. There is a growing evidence, that suggests that your body responds to healthy changes as much or more than most people. The science says nearly half of dementia risk is modifiable.

[19:47]The science says that resilient ApoE4 carriers people who stay cognitively healthy into their 80s and beyond. They exist. They are real and they are out there. So your job now is not to panic. Your job is to become one of them. And that starts today. If this video helped you, take a breath today, hit subscribe.

[20:06]I make videos like this every week, breaking down the latest ApoE4 research and what it actually means for us, and also what to do about it. Drop a comment and tell me when did you find out? What was the first thing you did? I read every single one and try to reply to them and remember.

[20:22]Download the free Essential Guide to Thriving with ApoE4 The link is in the description and I'll see you in the next video. Take care of yourself.