Trauma, Inflammation, and Neurodegeneration: A New Framework for Alzheimer's | Dr. Caesar Hernandez, MS, PhD | The Metabolic Link Ep. 87

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Feb 10, 2026

Caesar Hernandez, a behavioral and molecular neuroscientist studying trauma, inflammation, metabolism, and brain aging. He explores links between PTSD and higher Alzheimer risk. He highlights early amygdala inflammation, metabolic and gut connections in veteran comorbidities, and why ketogenic interventions might reduce neuroinflammation and enhance rewiring of traumatic memories.

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INSIGHT

Aged Brain Loses Glucose Access

Aging reduces brain glucose transport while monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) remain stable so ketones can supply energy.
Caesar Hernandez uses this to explain why ketogenic strategies can remediate cognitive aging by improving brain energy availability.

INSIGHT

Amygdala Shows Early Inflammation

Early neuroinflammation emerged in the amygdala of the TGF344-AD rats while peripheral inflammation did not mirror those increases.
Hernandez suggests central sequestration or decoy receptor dynamics can decouple brain and blood inflammatory signals early in disease.

INSIGHT

Stress, Gut Leakiness, And Dementia Risk

Veterans show a cluster of PTSD, metabolic syndrome, IBS, and higher dementia risk, suggesting stress links GI dysfunction and brain aging.
Hernandez frames gut permeability and chronic inflammation as mechanisms that lower resilience to amyloid/tau pathologies.

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Roughly 90% of Alzheimer's patients develop neuropsychiatric symptoms including anxiety, persistent fear, and an inability to recognize safety — but little research is being done to investigate why. New data connecting PTSD, trauma, and accelerated brain aging may hold the answer.

Dr. Caesar Hernandez is a behavioral, molecular, and circuit neuroscientist and assistant professor in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics & Palliative Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research program seeks to identify modifiable mechanisms that drive vulnerability to age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease.

In this conversation with Dr. Dominic D'Agostino, Dr. Hernandez walks through epidemiological evidence linking PTSD to increased Alzheimer's risk, the comorbidity cluster of metabolic syndrome, gut permeability, and neuropsychiatric disorders observed in veteran populations, and why ketogenic interventions may offer a unique therapeutic angle — reducing neuroinflammation and anxiety while making the brain more receptive to rewiring traumatic memories.

Questions Answered in This Episode:

Could addressing PTSD in midlife meaningfully reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia later in life?
Why do veteran populations show such high comorbidity between PTSD, metabolic syndrome, and dementia?
Could ketogenic therapy serve a similar function to pharmacologically-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD?
How does the amygdala - the brain's "fear center" - play a role in Alzheimer's disease?
What is the single biggest unanswered question driving Alzheimer's research right now — and why does it go beyond genetics and biochemistry?

Dr. Hernandez's driving question — why are negative life experiences associated with an increased the risk of neurodegeneration? — reframes brain aging as something shaped not just by genes and biology, but by the lives we live and the stress we carry.

Find more of Dr. Caesar Hernandez online:

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