Posted on 12/06/2023 5:41:45 AM PST by logi_cal869
The right diet can help stave off dementia, according to new collaborative research. Even better, the report even tells us which foods we should include with breakfast, lunch, and dinner to best support the brain. The new study concludes that diets emphasizing plants, such as the Mediterranean diet or traditional diets seen in China, Japan, and India, appear to reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk, especially when compared to a fattier, more processed Western diet.
In this article we’ll share the important findings of this study, and include a table of the suggested foods (and their anti-Alzheimer’s properties) to help ward off dementia. You can find this at the bottom of the post.
The global prevalence of Alzheimer’s is alarming. Current estimates indicate that approximately 32 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s, and a staggering 315 million showing preclinical signs. These numbers represent 22% of individuals aged 50 or older, marking Alzheimer’s as a major health challenge worldwide.
It’s been documented in the past that rates of Alzheimer’s, considered the most common form of dementia, tend to increase in nations as they make the nutritional transition to the Western diet. Now, this new project identifies dementia risk factors such as higher consumption of saturated fats, meat (especially red meat like hamburgers and barbeque), processed meat (hot dogs), and ultra-processed foods high in both sugar and refined grains.
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Study authors highlight several foods that appear to offer protection against Alzheimer’s, such as green leafy vegetables, colorful fruits and vegetables, legumes (like beans), omega-3 fatty acids, whole grains, and nuts. Scroll down for a complete look at anti-dementia foods for your diet.
Ultra-processed foods have long been linked to an increased risk of obesity and diabetes, themselves risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. Ultra-processed foods usually lack the ingredients seen in whole plant foods that keep dementia away (anti-inflammatory components, antioxidants).
Meanwhile, poverty is another noted driver of Alzheimer’s disease in the United States because ultra-processed foods and meat are cheaper sources of energy than fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and most other nutritious foods.
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This study was conducted by William B. Grant of the Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center, San Francisco, and Steven M. Blake Nutritional Neuroscience, Maui Memory Clinic, Wailuku, Hawaii.
“Grant and Blake comprehensively review and synthesize the role of dietary factors in Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence from diverse perspectives support that a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and…de-emphasizes meat, especially red meat, saturated fats, and ultra-processed foods is associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Physical inactivity and obesity also contribute to higher risk,” says Edward Giovannucci, MD, ScD, Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard University, in a media release.
Worth a read. See comments below for more.
The study itself (abstract and introduction pasted below; worth a full read at the source, linked below):
Diet’s Role in Modifying Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease: History and Present Understanding
Authors: Grant, William B.a; * | Blake, Steven M.b
https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad230418
Abstract
Diet is an important nonpharmacological risk-modifying factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The approaches used here to assess diet’s role in the risk of AD include multi-country ecological studies, prospective and cross-sectional observational studies, and laboratory studies. Ecological studies have identified fat, meat, and obesity from high-energy diets as important risk factors for AD and reported that AD rates peak about 15–20 years after national dietary changes. Observational studies have compared the Western dietary pattern with those of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Mediterranean (MedDi), and Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diets. Those studies identified AD risk factors including higher consumption of saturated and total fats, meat, and ultraprocessed foods and a lower risk of AD with higher consumption of fruits, legumes, nuts, omega-3 fatty acids, vegetables, and whole grains. Diet-induced factors associated with a significant risk of AD include inflammation, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, elevated homocysteine, dietary advanced glycation end products, and trimethylamine N-oxide. The molecular mechanisms by which dietary bioactive components and specific foods affect risk of AD are discussed. Given most countries’ entrenched food supply systems, the upward trends of AD rates would be hard to reverse. However, for people willing and able, a low–animal product diet with plenty of anti-inflammatory, low–glycemic load foods may be helpful.
INTRODUCTION
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia characterized by accumulation of tau protein tangles and amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque, progressive loss of neurons, and deterioration of normal brain function.
According to a 2023 review, the global number of people with AD, prodromal AD, and preclinical AD were estimated at 32 million, 69 million, and 315 million, respectively. Together they constituted 416 million across the AD continuum, or 22% of all people aged 50 or older [1]. Thus, AD is a serious health risk. A 2022 article identified 75 genetic risk foci, of which 42 were newly discovered [2]. However, people with genetic risk factors such as apolipoprotein E ɛ4 can modify their risk of developing AD by taking measures to reduce dietary risk factors.
A 2015 meta-analysis of modifiable risk factors for AD identified a healthful dietary pattern as the most important factor with a risk ratio (RR)/odds ratio (OR) of 0.45 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23–0.61) with grade II-A level of evidence [3]. The RR/OR values for specific dietary consumption were high folate intake, 0.49 (95% CI, 0.28–0.74), grade I; fish consumption, 0.68 (95% CI, 0.46–0.95), grade II-A; high vitamin E intake, 0.74 (95% CI, 0.63–0.83), grade I; and high vitamin C intake, 0.75 (95% CI, 0.57–0.02), grade I.
A 2020 review outlined the modifiable risk factors for AD throughout the lifespan [4]. In early life, more schooling reduces risk. Starting after age 45 years, many other modifiable risk factors become important. The review identified 10 factors with level A evidence (lack of cognitive activity, hyperhomocysteinemia, increased body mass index (BMI) in late life, depression, stress, diabetes, head trauma, hypertension in midlife, orthostatic hypotension, and education) and 9 factors with level B evidence (obesity in midlife, weight loss in late life, lack of physical exercise, smoking, poor sleep, cardiovascular disease ( CVD), frailty, atrial fibrillation, and lack of vitamin C). Levels of evidence were summarized to represent the quality of scientific evidence on the basis of directness of outcome for AD, credibility of meta-analyses, and consistency of evidence from clinical trials and/or observational studies: level A > level B > level C (based on the evidence level). Several of those factors, identified in boldface, are related to diet, yet diet was not included as a factor. However, a 2021 review did include diet as a modifiable risk factor [5]. That review cited the article by Morris and colleagues in 2015 [6] reporting that the Mediterranean diet (MedDi; hazard ratio [HR] = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.26–0.79), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet (Hazard ratio [HR] = 0.61 [95%, CI 0.38–0.97]), and the Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet (HR = 0.47 [95% CI, 0.26–0.76]) were all inversely associated with the risk of AD. The protective effects of those dietary patterns on cognition might be attributed to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, protective plant polyphenols, antidiabetic effects, and a higher ratio of mono- or polyunsaturated fats to saturated fatty acids (SFAs) [7].
Several ways exist to determine how diet affects risk of AD and to assess their relative influence. Ecological studies compare AD prevalence rates by country or time with respect to dietary supply values of macronutrients several years before the prevalence [8]. Cross-sectional studies compare prevalence of AD with respect to dietary factors [9]. Prospective studies enroll participants, obtain data for many factors, and use a food-frequency questionnaire to determine dietary factors, and then monitor participants for several years and compare dietary patterns for incidence of AD [10]. Such prospective studies also can be used to examine the role of specific foods and food groups in risk of AD [11]. Clinical trials also can be conducted in which diets are modified and changes in bioparameters associated with AD are sought [12]. In addition, once the general risk factors for AD are known, such as inflammation and insulin resistance (IR), the foods that affect those factors can be identified. Each approach can contribute to the understanding of how diet and dietary factors affect risk of AD.
The outline of this review is as follows:
1. A brief history of ecological and observational studies regarding dietary patterns and risk of AD is presented.
2. The mechanisms by which inflammation, IR, and oxidative stress affect risk of AD are discussed, followed by the roles of obesity, advanced glycation end products (AGEs), homocysteine, lipopolysaccharides, arachidonic acid (AA), and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO).
3. The effects of various food factors that reduce risk of AD are discussed along with the mechanisms by which they affect risk of AD.
Evidence to lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s support a diet that emphasizes:
<><> fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains,
<><> less meat, especially red meat and BBQ,
<><> less saturated fats, and ultra-processed foods
Physical inactivity and obesity also contribute to higher risk.
If this is true, the popular Keto diet, with its emphasis on high protein, fat and red meat might increase the risk of catching Alzheimer’s.
Sorry, in my opinion any research that uses words such as “may” are worthless.
Eh,it’s out of SanFagSicko and Hawaii.
They’re just pushing an agenda like Ansel Keys was.
Exactly, but I always take such findings with a grain of salt.
For example, the authors conclude ‘meat consumption’ as follows:
“In general, studies of dietary patterns and risk of AD can show the general association of large food factor categories on risk but cannot apportion the risk according to food factor category. Also, the fact that the DASH, MedDi, and MIND dietary patterns permit some meat consumption means that meat’s role cannot be carefully assessed.”
My primary critique of the study’s authors is their stubborn adherence to ‘diets’, whereas a majority of the population subjects themselves to emotional dietary patterns which do NOT follow said ‘diets’.
That stated, most who follow keto do so not of an intellectual foundation, but emotional. Keto is not a lifestyle, but a regimen having been abused & twisted by promoters into a lifestyle option despite all the evidence to the contrary.
My conclusion is that the study authors have an inherent bias against meat, but it does little to discredit their findings against ‘big food’ (i.e., processed foods).
Beef, it's what for dinner.
Got that right.
Missing from all the research are the effects of the chemicals in said meats.
It’s a telling omission.
“ultra-processed foods and meat are cheaper sources of energy than fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and most other nutritious foods.”
FALSE. Meat and junk food are more expensive on a pound for pound basis than fruits, veges, and whole grains.
The poor are just too stupid, lazy and badly trained about food.
***The new study concludes that diets emphasizing plants,...... traditional diets seen in China, Japan, and India, appear to reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk, especially when compared to a fattier, more processed Western diet***
BUNK. I’ve been on a meat diet ever since I had a mitral valve replacement thirty three years ago. Also need to take warfarin to keep the blood thin. As a result I cannot eat green leafy vegetables as they make the blood too thick.
At 77 years of age I am doing well. I also have all my teeth from drinking High Plains well water in my youth. Still drive and can do my own finances.
This is just another attempt to get people to quit eating MEAT! Same thing has been going on for the last 55 years.
Under the banner of advertising/propaganda, it’s not ‘false’.
Just sayin’.
Notice that these studies always compare diets with fructose and fat to diets with fructose and no fat. They NEVER compare diets with fructose to diets without fructose. Why do you suppose that is?
Huh ... I haven't a clue. Not even this slightest inkling.
Why don't you tell us all why YOU suppose that is?
There is definitely more than one bias exhibited in the study.
But that’s always the case.
Exactly. Meat and highly processed foods are the most expensive yet they equate meat with the poor. Sure, uh huh, the poor stuff themselves with ribeye while the wealthy stick to a diet of Ramen.
At least they aren’t pushing those meaty bugs. This news is going to be a blow to the bug farmers.
Bkmk
If I can, with ordinary kitchen tools, make the food from raw ingredients in my kitchen, it is food. Now this does not mean I will always make it that way but can I do it.
Oddly enough this has resulted in our not eating canned pumpkin puree because there is no way to make that safely in your kitchen. Cubed yes, puree no. The cubed has more fiber and less sugar per ounce as well.
But if the food requires processing beyond that it is moved into the ultra-processed category and is junk food.
So far, so good. We all pass the yearly physical with flying colors.
Sorry, in my opinion any research that uses words such as “may” are worthless.
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According to my research, you may be right.
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