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Today’s Health Upgrade
Predicting Alzheimer’s 20 years before it hits
The science of stability and performance
Plants vs. Propecia: preventing hair loss
Did we sell out?
On Our Radar
A Blood Test Can Now Predict Alzheimer's 20 Years Out
Most people assume Alzheimer's disease arrives without warning. One day you're fine, and then you're not. But a landmark study suggests the disease has a much longer shadow than we realized.
Researchers developed a blood test that can predict when Alzheimer's symptoms will appear up to 20 years before they show up. And that means changes you make now could significantly influence your future risk.
Scientists tracked a blood protein (called p-tau217) in hundreds of older adults across two independent cohorts over several years, building what they call a "clock model" — an estimate not just of whether someone will develop Alzheimer's, but when.
Someone whose blood test turned positive at age 60 had roughly 20 years before expected symptoms. Someone who turned positive at 80 had about 11. The model predicted timelines with a margin of error of just 3 to 4 years. The test isn't ready for clinical use yet, and researchers explicitly caution against individuals attempting to use it themselves. But what it reveals about the disease's trajectory is worth sitting with.
That gap between ages 60 and 80 isn't random. The study's authors flag that what accelerates Alzheimer's in those final years before symptoms emerge isn't just genetics, it's the accumulation of age-related changes that are significantly shaped by lifestyle. Cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, poor sleep, and declining physical fitness. These don't just make you feel older. They appear to determine how fast the biological clock ticks once it starts.
That means the window for protection opens decades before any symptom appears. Exercise — particularly resistance and cardiovascular training — improves cerebral blood flow and has shown the strongest evidence for reducing cognitive decline across multiple decades of research.
Sleep is when your brain physically clears tau and amyloid proteins through the glymphatic system; chronic poor sleep may be accelerating the very pathology this test measures. For most adults, that means consistently getting fewer than 7 hours a night, or regularly waking up unrefreshed even after a full night. But there’s no need to complicate the sleep prevention plan: aim for 7–9 hours, keep a consistent sleep and wake time even on weekends, and treat the bedroom as a sleep environment — cool, dark, and phone-free.
A Mediterranean-pattern diet has been associated with slower decline in several large studies. This isn't a rigid meal plan, it's a general direction. More fish, vegetables, legumes, olive oil, and whole grains; less processed food and red meat. Research suggests even partial adherence moves the needle on the relevant markers.
The basics matter more than most people realize: regular aerobic exercise (even 150 minutes of moderate effort per week), not smoking, managing blood pressure, and knowing your numbers. A standard annual physical will tell you most of what you need to know.
The test isn't at your doctor's office. But the lesson it teaches is available to everyone right now: Your 30s, 40s, and 50s aren't too early to think about this. They might be exactly the right time.
Together With NOBULL
Why Less Shoe Might Mean More Muscle
You've probably seen someone deadlift in socks and thought it looked strange. Or maybe you've been told to ditch your running shoes for lifting and wondered if that was actually advice or just gym mythology. It turns out there's something to it.
Researchers found that training in minimalist footwear — low heel-to-toe drop, wide toe box — showed meaningfully better stability and produced more force in a trap bar deadlift than those wearing standard athletic shoes.
Scientists ran a randomized crossover trial with athletes testing two footwear conditions: minimalist shoes and regular sports shoes. Each participant completed stability assessments, change-of-direction tests, and a maximal-velocity trap bar deadlift loaded to their own bodyweight.
Using force plates — equipment that measures exactly how much force your feet generate and how quickly — they tracked stability across multiple directions and peak force output during the lift. Minimalist shoes won on overall stability time and on one key directional stability measure. Regular shoes held a narrow edge on one forward stability metric.
For the deadlift, minimalist footwear produced more force and reached peak force faster from both legs in both trials.
The likely reason is ground contact. A raised heel in a cushioned shoe tilts your body weight forward and creates a layer between your foot and the floor. Well-designed minimalist footwear flattens that out: your foot sits closer to level, your weight distributes more evenly, and the feedback loop between your foot and the ground improves. That connection matters when you're trying to express maximum force quickly.
You'll likely notice the difference the most on compound lifts where ground contact matters most — deadlifts, squats, Romanian deadlifts.
If you lift regularly, our shoe of choice is the NOBULL Outwork. The research points to two things that matter most: heel-to-toe drop and ground contact. The Outwork is built around both.
The 4mm drop puts you in nearly the same position as minimalist footwear: close to level, weight evenly distributed, and the foot in full contact with the floor. The high-density midsole doesn't compress under load, which means the force you generate goes into the bar, not into the foam between your foot and the ground. Unlike other minimalist shoes, the SuperFabric® makes the shoes more durable and harder to break down, and the carbon rubber outsole grips whether you're on rubber gym flooring or turf.
It's a shoe built to match what the research describes, not cushion you away from the floor, but keep you connected to it.
For the next 48 hours, APC readers get 35% off select styles, including some colorways that have been out of rotation and are now back. Use the code ARNOLDPC35OFF at checkout.
Your feet might need a few sessions to adjust, especially if you've spent years in cushioned shoes.
Health
Can a Plant Really Fight Hair Loss?
If you've noticed more hair in the drain or a thinner spot developing on top, you've probably already Googled your way to saw palmetto. A new industry-funded study claims this supplement "safely and effectively promotes hair growth." The headlines sound promising — but the full picture is more interesting than any single study.
Saw palmetto is a mild, safe option that may help slow hair loss in some people, but it's not a replacement for proven treatments, and about half of users won't see a measurable difference.
Here's what more than two decades of research actually tells us. A systematic review of 7 studies found a roughly 27% improvement in total hair count, with 83% of patients showing increased density. That sounds decent, until you compare it to finasteride (Propecia).
The only head-to-head trial of finasteride and saw palmetto followed 100 men for 2 years and found that finasteride helped 68% of users, compared with 38% for saw palmetto.
Why does it work at all? Saw palmetto contains fatty acids that block the enzyme converting testosterone into DHT — the hormone behind pattern hair loss. It targets the same pathway as finasteride, just with less firepower. Finasteride lowers DHT by about 68%. Saw palmetto? Closer to 20-30%.
The real advantage is safety. Across every study reviewed, side effects are rare, mild, and mostly digestive. Unlike finasteride, sexual side effects are extremely uncommon, with a meta-analysis confirming that adverse events don't differ from placebo.
So what's the move? If you're noticing early thinning, saw palmetto (320 mg/day of a standardized extract) falls into "might help, probably won't hurt" territory. Give it three to six months to evaluate. But if hair loss is progressing fast, talk to a dermatologist — stronger, proven options exist. And that new study making headlines? It was funded by the company selling the product, tested only 60 people, and published results halfway through the trial. Worth knowing before you click "add to cart."
From The Editors
Did We Sell Out?
We received an email this week that we want to share with you because it's a fair question, and you deserve a straight answer. A reader said:
"I wondered how long it would take before you started selling your own line of supplements. Every doctor or health website I have followed and trusted has done the same. To me and many others this is a blatant conflict of interest. When a celebrity endorses their own products, it makes you wonder if their motivation was financial gain all the time."
We're glad this person wrote. And we understand the skepticism.
The supplement industry has earned that distrust. It's full of celebrities slapping their name on products they've never researched, companies making claims they can't back up, and influencers who'll endorse anything that writes a check.
If you've been burned before — and most people have — a healthy level of suspicion is the correct response.
So let us be direct about what we've built here, and why.
This newsletter has spent years telling you the same things: exercise, sleep, eat enough protein, eat enough fiber, stay connected to the people you love, push yourself, rest when you need to, and be present. Nothing complicated. Nothing requires a supplement. That advice hasn't changed, and it never will.
Even when suggesting a product, we provide it within the context of the research so you can make an informed decision without buying anything. And we recommend products with no financial relationship. The goal of APC is empowerment, not dependency. And the truth is, having partners allows us to keep these emails free, as they take a tremendous amount of work to create.
For example, in yesterday’s post, we gave you an example of how to hit your fiber needs without using a supplement:
You don't need a dramatic diet overhaul to close the gap. A cup of lentils and a whole avocado are both loaded with fiber. Add an apple and a handful of almonds to your current routine, and you're getting more than the average person. Toss in a bowl of oatmeal and green veggies, and you’re there.
But, when it comes to fiber, here's the problem we couldn't ignore: 95% of Americans don't get enough fiber. Not because people are lazy or careless, but because the awareness isn't there, people struggle to build healthy eating habits, and the products that exist either solve one small piece of the puzzle or taste like chalk.
We kept telling people fiber matters. And we’ll keep sharing whole food recommendations, and we won’t stop.
At the same time, it’s hard watching people struggle to actually get it. In our app, we can see how people eat. The nutrition tracker makes it clear what people struggle with. And guess what? The biggest, most consistent issue is fiber.
At some point, doing nothing felt like its own kind of failure.
So we asked: if we were going to do this, how do we do it right?
We chose Momentous for Fiber+ because they're one of the few supplement companies that treat quality as non-negotiable: third-party tested, NSF Certified for Sport, the standard trusted by professional athletes and the military.
We invested two years formulating Fiber+. We didn’t do it to compete with everything on the shelf. We formulated it to be different in one specific way: three distinct fiber sources, including resistant starch, which feeds butyrate-producing bacteria in your colon, an ingredient most fiber supplements don't include at all.
And here's what we want to say about the mission, because it matters: if Fiber+ teaches you what fiber actually does, and you decide to get it entirely from food, that is a win. Full stop.
If understanding the research makes you eat more beans, more vegetables, more oats — we succeeded. A supplement is one tool. It's not the point. The point is getting more people to close their fiber gap, by whatever means work for them.
We know supplements — the good ones — can build a bridge to better behaviors. And we know that this bridge is unlike anything anyone has created. When you take Fiber+, you will notice the difference in days. Why? Because it works and each ingredient is backed by research.
We're not naive about the perception. We know making a product changes how some people see us. We accepted that. What we weren't willing to accept is knowing there's a real problem, knowing there's something we can do to be part of the solution, and doing nothing about it because it looked complicated.
We hope you try Fiber+ (all APC readers get 35% off their first-purchase subscription, or 14% off a one-time purchase with the code “PUMPCLUB”) because we’re confident you’ll love it and see the difference. And if you don’t buy it, make sure you add more fiber to your diet, starting with a food you love. Because that’s what really matters.
We've built this newsletter on one principle: give you the truth and trust you to make your own decisions. That doesn't change when we have something to sell that we created. If anything, it raises the bar because now we have more to prove. -AB & DK
Better Today
Take any of these tips from today’s email and put them into action:
1. Alzheimer's Doesn't Arrive Without Warning. It Starts Decades Before Symptoms Appear
A landmark blood test study tracking p-tau217 protein levels in two independent cohorts found it can predict Alzheimer's symptom onset up to 20 years in advance, with a margin of error of just 3 to 4 years. The researchers found that a 60-year-old with a positive test has roughly 20 years before expected symptoms, while an 80-year-old has about 11. The study's authors identified cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, poor sleep, and declining physical fitness as the primary accelerants once the biological clock starts — not just genetics. The 20-year window isn't a death sentence; it's the clearest evidence yet that what you do in your 30s, 40s, and 50s directly shapes prevention and potentially how fast the disease progresses.
2. Minimalist Footwear Produced More Force and Reached Peak Force Faster Than Standard Athletic Shoes
A randomized crossover trial using force plates found that minimalist footwear — low heel-to-toe drop, wide toe box — outperformed standard athletic shoes in overall stability and produced greater peak force from both legs faster during a bodyweight-loaded trap bar deadlift. A raised heel shifts weight forward and inserts a compressible layer between foot and floor, reducing the force that actually reaches the bar. On compound lifts where ground contact determines force expression, your shoe choice is part of your training, not an afterthought.
3. Saw Palmetto Helped 38% of Men Grow Hair. Finasteride Helped 68%. Here's How to Decide Which One Is Right for You.
A systematic review of 7 studies found saw palmetto produced roughly a 27% improvement in total hair count, with 83% of patients showing increased density. However, the only head-to-head trial comparing it to finasteride followed 100 men for 2 years and found finasteride helped 68% of users versus 38% for saw palmetto, a gap explained by DHT reduction rates. Finasteride suppresses DHT by 68%, while saw palmetto suppresses it by 20–30%. The real advantage is safety: across all reviewed studies, adverse events were rare, mild, and statistically indistinguishable from placebo, and sexual side effects, confirmed by meta-analysis, were extremely uncommon. If you're seeing early thinning, 320mg/day of standardized extract for three to six months falls into "might help, probably won't hurt" territory, but if loss is progressing fast, a dermatologist conversation is worth more than any supplement.
4. Why Arnold’s Pump Club Created Fiber+
Arnold's Pump Club launched Fiber+, formulated with three distinct fiber sources, including resistant starch — an ingredient that feeds butyrate-producing bacteria in the colon and is absent from most fiber supplements. The product addresses a documented gap: 95% of Americans fall short of the recommended 25-35g daily fiber intake, a deficit linked to increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic dysfunction across large-scale research. The brand's position hasn't changed: if understanding the research makes you eat more beans and oats instead of buying anything, that's a win — the supplement is a tool, not the point.
The Positive Corner of The Internet
About Arnold’s Pump Club Editorial Standards
We do things a bit differently here, starting with transparency.
The Content: All APC emails are researched, written, and fact-checked by the APC editors (see bottom of the email), with written contributions from Arnold (noted with “Arnold’s Corner”). Links take you to original studies (not second-hand sources).
Does AI play a role? Not for the primary content, but it is used in two ways. The main items are original content written by the APC team. The summaries at the end are AI-generated based on the human-written content above. We also use an AI tool to review our interpretations of the research and ensure scientific accuracy. We don’t assume AI is right, but we use technology to hold ourselves accountable.
Yes, we have partners (all clearly noted). Why? Because it allows these emails to remain free. We first test products, and then reach out to potential partners who offer ways to help you improve every day. The bar is set high, and to date, we have turned down millions in ad deals. (Example: we will not partner with any non-certified supplements or those without evidence in human trials). If we won’t buy the product, we won’t recommend it to you. And if there’s no evidence it works, then there’s no place for it here.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
