A university has registered a small clinical trial to test whether strength training changes measures in the blood and gut of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. The study, listed on ClinicalTrials.gov on November 5, 2026, is not yet taking volunteers, and there are no results.1 Here is what is planned, what earlier exercise studies found, and what this kind of trial can and cannot show.
What happened
The trial is titled “Physical Exercise in Alzheimer’s Disease: Impact on Functional Biomarkers and the Muscle-Gut-Brain Axis.” Its sponsor is the European University Miguel de Cervantes.1 The registry lists its status as not yet recruiting, with a planned start date of November 10, 2026 and main results expected by October 31, 2027.1
It is an interventional study, meaning researchers assign people to a program rather than just observing them. It is not part of a drug-style phase system, because it tests exercise, not a medicine. The registry estimates about 48 participants in total.1
The researchers write that Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of dementia worldwide and involves changes beyond the brain, such as loss of muscle strength, ongoing low-level inflammation, and an imbalance in gut bacteria.1 They describe exercise as a promising non-drug therapy, and they note that human evidence on how exercise affects gut bacteria in Alzheimer’s is very limited.1
The plan: two ways of lifting weights
The trial will use “velocity-based” resistance training. Resistance training is strength work against a load, such as weights. Velocity-based means the program is set by how fast the weight moves, not only by how heavy it is. The study team writes that this style has proven safe and effective in older adults, but that its effects in people with Alzheimer’s are unknown.1
Two versions will be compared:1
- High load: heavier weights lifted at a moderate speed.
- Moderate load: lighter weights lifted at a high speed.
Both will be compared with usual care in older adults with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s.1 The registry also lists high-load and moderate-load groups for healthy adults. These cognitively healthy older adults act as a reference group, so not all 48 participants will have Alzheimer’s.1
What will be measured
The main measures, which researchers call primary outcomes, are mostly samples and scores rather than memory tests:1
- Gut bacteria, checked at the start and after 12 weeks.
- Two inflammation scores calculated from blood counts, called the Systemic Inflammation Response Index and the Aggregate Index of Systemic Inflammation.
- Blood markers: BDNF, klotho, p-tau217 (a blood measure of a form of the protein tau) and the ratio of testosterone to cortisol, a stress hormone.
- Biological age, an estimate of how old the body seems compared with years lived.
Most of these will be taken at the start, after the first week, after 12 weeks of training, and again 12 weeks after training stops.1 That last check, which the registry calls “detraining,” is meant to show whether any change lasts once people stop. The study summary also mentions “intrinsic capacity,” a broad measure of a person’s physical and mental abilities.1
Some of these markers have come up in earlier exercise research. BDNF is a protein that is important for forming new brain cells, for connections between nerve cells and for memory, and running raises it in the brains of rodents.2 Klotho is a protein in the blood that can enhance thinking and is linked to resilience against diseases where brain cells break down.2
What earlier studies found
The research behind this trial is mixed and mostly small.
A US pilot study called REACH, run by the University of Wisconsin, Madison, put middle-aged adults at risk of Alzheimer’s on an aerobic exercise program.3 Its registry record lists 24 participants enrolled.3 A later blood analysis covered 23 people without symptoms, average age 65, half of them women, all with a family history or genetic risk of Alzheimer’s.2 One group kept their usual activity. The other did 26 weeks of supervised treadmill training.2
After training, a protein released by muscle called cathepsin B rose in the blood, and changes in it tracked with verbal learning and memory.2 The results were less tidy for the two markers the new trial will also measure. BDNF in the blood went down, not up, and memory was not related to BDNF or klotho.2 Klotho did not change, though it was linked to heart and lung fitness.4 The work was funded by the Alzheimer’s Association, the Extendicare Foundation and the US National Institutes of Health.4
A separate study from Washington University in St. Louis, published in 2020, followed people who had normal thinking at the start and asked them how much they had exercised over the previous 10 years.5 It tracked spinal fluid markers in 95 people, brain scans for amyloid in 181, and thinking tests in 327.5 More exercise was linked to a slower decline in processing speed, but not to clear differences in the other measures.5 The authors wrote that self-reported exercise “may be limited” as a factor in changes in Alzheimer’s markers.5 That study relied on people’s memory of their own exercise and only showed links, not cause and effect.
What this trial will not show
Even if it runs as planned, this study has clear limits:
- It is small. About 48 people split across several groups leaves few people in each one.1
- It is short. Training lasts 12 weeks, with a follow-up 12 weeks later.1
- It measures markers, not daily life. The main outcomes are blood, gut and inflammation measures.1 A change in a marker does not by itself mean memory, independence or the course of the disease will change.
- It is a plan. Trials can change their design, enrollment or timing after registration.
The earlier findings also show that markers can move in unexpected directions. In REACH, BDNF fell after training even though it is often described as a protein that exercise boosts.2
Who is behind it
The registry names the European University Miguel de Cervantes as sponsor.1 The record does not list outside funders, company partners or conflicts of interest. Because the tested treatment is an exercise program rather than a product, no company stands to sell it based on what the registry shows.
What to watch next
The first step is whether the trial opens and starts enrolling volunteers around its planned November 2026 start.1 Main results are scheduled for October 2027.1 Key questions will be whether the two training styles differ from each other and from usual care, whether any changes in blood or gut measures persist 12 weeks after stopping, and whether the researchers report measures of physical and mental ability alongside the markers.1 Biohack will follow this thread as the study moves forward.
