Do experts think that it’s genes or lifestyle that increases Alzheimer’s risk?

You’re speaking to something that science is very much investigating: epigenetics. We are not just our genes. Our lifestyles modify what our genes do to us. Epigenetics is this idea that we can activate and deactivate different genes based on how we live; those genes could then interact with other genes, such as ApoE, and really, a person’s genes are very unique because of how they’re living their lives. So that example of the population in Africa, as well as the five blue zones throughout the world, we’re seeing that it isn’t just your genes—it is your lifestyle. We can’t necessarily change the genetic code itself, but we might be able to change how that genetic code translates to our bodies.