[maxheadroom]

Surprised that this is the first comment about this on here but we really need a better turn-of-phrase than "toxins" because kind of language validates the fads going around that are harming people - like the "get skinny in two days!" diets or the anti-vax community.

Also, why do they use the term emphatically in the title of the article and then state, "...presumably removing toxins associated with Alzheimer's, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science." That comes across as, "We don't actually know what this is doing but we're going to take a guess and just run with it."

In fact, from the abstract of the paper itself, "Sleep is also associated with increased interstitial fluid volume and clearance of metabolic waste products. It is unknown why these processes co-occur and how they are related."

I don't understand how metabolic waste products automatically equates to "Alzheimer's toxins" nor how they're reaching these conclusions if they don't understand their coincidence - whether accidental or intentional.

Can anyone help a stranger on the internets and connect these dots? =]

[Nasrudith]

Part of the issue is the vagueness is likely appropriate to both as we don't know the depth. It is linked to Alzheimer's and its presence causes a negative effect so it is contextually a toxin at least until narrowed down to a more precise mechanism like say prions, inappropriate cell reactions, and/or inappropriate oxidation levels.

Anyway that amateur explanation aside - the woo community is inherently appropriative of things they don't understand - witness "quantum" anything buzzwords outside of the physics or numerical context.