No, Jake Paul, Your Brain Scan Didn’t Show Early Signs Of CTE
There is a video floating around with Jake Paul having a brain scan and saying he has early signs of CTE. I’m going to put it simply so that everyone can understand: that’s bullshit. First check out the clip below.
.@JakePaul claims he has "early signs of CTE" heading into his boxing match against Ben Askren at #TrillerFightClub.
Watch full video: https://t.co/DGBJmd0UUN pic.twitter.com/yyFjcUqWnD
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) April 15, 2021
Now, let me tell you why Jake Paul is full of it and there’s no way he or any doctor on planet Earth who could tell him that he has early CTE.
There is no scientifically accepted method to check for CTE in the living. Every case of the disease has been detected post mortem in athletes, military and others. NFL hall of famer, Junior Seau, famously shot himself in the chest so that scientist could study his brain for the disease.
In 2017, a former NFL player was scanned amongst 13 others and was thought to have shown signs CTE in that scan. But even that was not officially confirmed until after his death. Even then, the advanced stage of his disease only made that possible.
Why Jake Paul Couldn’t Possibly Know He Has CTE
It’s scientifically impossible with what we know right now. You see, scientists have to actually look at the brain. Outside the skull. After they’re dead. To do this, they look at a tau protein that is supposed to hold the neurons in the brain together and in correct shape.
You see, what CTE does is takes these tau proteins and when they build on each other, they don’t form, or fold, properly, causing a chain reaction that spreads throughout the brain, leading to all of the horror stories we’ve heard from years past.
The scientists use chemicals to detect these misfolded tau proteins that are essentially the structure of the brain itself. As of right now, there are no other ways to detect CTS at an advanced stage while the patient is still alive.
There have been studies that show potential patterns in brain scans that could show CTE. But the studies have been small, in as many as a few former NFL players. According to that link, the method involves finding a specific compound, one that’s radioactive, and connects specifically to the misfolded proteins that cause CTE. They then scan for the radioactive compound that theoretically show the CTE on a pet scan. The issue scientists are finding is in that compound doesn’t only connect to the tau protein and provides not entirely accurate readings. But this is highly experimental and only been given to a handful of candidates, IE, not Jake Paul.
The other issue comes up with Paul claiming he’s had the scan detecting “early signs” of CTE. All of these players in the experiment have severe CTE. The only way to detect early CTE is to see the symptoms like memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, and more. But Jake Paul has been like this for a while before boxing and is the signs of behavior problems before CTE.
All in all, Jake Paul is clout chasing and trying to make people feel bad. While I do have excitement for the upcoming fight with Ben Askren, the claim to have CTE is unfounded and based on woo-woo and the want to sell pay per views. Jake Paul does not have any way to know he has early signs of CTE. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
