Alzheimer’s symptom might begin within the nostril ‘method earlier than’ reminiscence loss, says TV professor
Professor and Traitors star Hannah Fry has explained a theory suggesting that Alzheimer’s disease could ‘start in the nose’ long before any signs of memory loss appear
Scans found the same inflammatory response and plaques in brains linked to Alzheimer’s (stock)(Image: Getty | Franziska & Tom Werner)
A TV academic has put forward a theory indicating that Alzheimer’s might “start in the nose” well before any symptoms of memory decline appear.
Celebrity Traitors personality and maths expert Professor Hannah Fry explored the research in her New Scientist column. The presenter, whose father succumbed to Alzheimer’s in 2025, outlined that the theory proposes that “maybe [Alzheimer’s] starts way, way, way, way, way before we thought”.
Scientists are suggesting that “this isn’t just something that goes wrong in your brain”. Hannah reveals this developing theory stems from multiple studies indicating the disease may be much more intimately connected to our noses than medical professionals had previously understood.
The nose is thought to be a ‘potential route’ directly to your brain(Image: aquaArts studio via Getty Images)
In a video posted on Instagram, she explained how our brains are “locked away” within our skulls, with remarkably little capable of getting inside.
She explained: “One of the few areas where [the brain] has a connection to the outside is through your nose. Just behind your eyes, sitting behind your nose, there is like a little bit of your skull that is covered in tiny holes through which your olfactory nerves will dangle to give you your sense of smell.”
This body of research highlighted that this could present a possible route for infection to reach the brain. Professor Fry elaborated that the studies encompassed mice, dogs and individuals residing in significantly polluted regions, reports Wales Online.
Broadcaster and mathematician Professor Hannah Fry has given the warning(Image: BBC)
She explained: “A group of scientists took a bunch of mice, and then they squirted chlamydia up their noses. Now it was chlamydia pneumonia, which is a sort of bacterial cousin of the one that gives you an STI, but why let facts get in the way of a good sentence?”
“To their surprise, within 72 hours, these mice who just had something put into their nose had an infection that travelled up into their brains that had then triggered the same kind of inflammatory response and plaques that you see in brains that are riddled with Alzheimer’s.”
Comparable studies found that stray dogs in Mexico residing in cities with extreme pollution contained “tiny little flecks of metals embedded inside of their brain”. Hannah noted: “[The study found] each one of those fragments was then surrounded again by the same plaques, same inflammatory responses that you end up seeing in Alzheimer’s.”
The latest research has looked at young children and adults brought up in heavily polluted environments and has discovered the same trend. It indicated that something “sniffed up from the environment” was being repelled by the brain.
The impacted regions were then encircled by these plaques and by an inflammatory reaction typically seen in individuals with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive condition and remains the most common cause of dementia in the UK, the NHS states.
For help and support on navigating the condition, click here for more information from the Alzheimer’s Society.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
