Cut the risk of dementia by 20% with this dietary change
Adding where Joel paused . . . Can you reduce your risk of dementia? – Angry Bear, Joel Eissenberg
Replacing red meat cuts dementia risk by 20%, CNN, by Sandee LaMotte
Dementia risk rose by 14% when people ate about 1 ounce of processed red meat a day — the equivalent of slightly less than two 3-ounce servings a week — compared with people who only ate about three servings a month, a preliminary new study found.
The risk for dementia dropped by 20%, however, for people who replaced that small daily serving of processed red meat with a daily serving of nuts and legumes.
Processed red meats such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs and deli meats often contain higher levels of sodium, nitrates and saturated fat. Eating higher amounts of these meats has been strongly linked to the development of colon and other cancers, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and stroke, studies have shown.
“There is much we can do to reduce the risks of dementia, starting with actions that are well known to reduce risks of cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. Willett said in an email.
“There are still aspects of this to understand in more detail. For example it seems that some foods may be particularly important to include and we would like to understand the specific active ingredients, but we don’t need to wait for all the details to take action.”
The study was observational and can only show an association and not necessarily cause and effect, said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine who was not involved in the study.
“However, the associations are very likely to be causal, because the principal risk factors for Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline are the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, with which processed meat intake is strongly linked,” he said in an email. Katz is the founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine.
Each additional serving of processed red meat raised risk
An abstract of the study, which is under review for publication, was presented Wednesday at the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia.
Every two to four years for over three decades, researchers captured dietary data from more than 130,000 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, one of the largest investigations into the risk factors for major chronic diseases in women, and the complimentary Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which investigated the same risk factors in men.
The men and women were asked how often they ate a serving of processed red meat, which could be two slices of bacon, one hot dog, two small links of sausage or kielbasa, and salami, bologna or other processed meat sandwiches.
The study participants were also asked how often they ate nuts and legumes, such as 1 tablespoon of peanut butter; 1 ounce of peanuts, walnuts or other nuts; an 8-ounce glass of soy milk; a half cup of string beans, lentils, beans, peas or lima beans; or a typical 3-ounce serving of tofu or soy protein.
“Those are anti-inflammatory foods, so you can imagine they have a lot of benefits in addition to reducing the processed meats with toxins, nitrates and sodium which are not good for you,” said Dr. Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, who was not involved in the study.
In addition to the 14% cognitive decline associated with approximately two servings a week of processed red meat, the study found an increased risk connected to each additional serving.
Each additional daily serving added an extra 1.61 years of cognitive aging for global cognition and an extra 1.69 years of cognitive aging in verbal memory, according to the study.
“Global cognition provides a broad overview of cognitive function. It can help to capture the overall impact of dietary and lifestyle factors on cognitive health,” said lead study author Yuhan Li, a research assistant in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, in an email.
“Verbal memory refers to the memory for verbally presented information. It is an important predictor of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Li, who conducted the study while a graduate student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Additional Reference:
Can you reduce your risk of dementia? Angry Bear, Joel Eissenberg
I had my genome sequenced in order to identify risk factors for late-life onset disease risks like cancer, Parkinsons and dementia. Among those genetic risk factors is the ApoE4 allele. I don’t have it (I have the ApoE3 allele, which is average risk). I know a couple of geneticists who do carry the ApoE4 allele. One is in his 90s and is dementing. Both have been on statins for decades.
My ApoE status wasn’t a surprise, since my lipid panels have been in the normal range. I don’t have the risk alleles for Lynch syndrome or the BRCA1 or 2 cancer risk alleles. That said, I still get regular colonoscopies and just had my PSA levels checked. With cancer, early diagnosis gives the best prognosis.
Regardless of your genetics, the advice here and on my post stands. There are many lifestyle decisions that can influence your risk of dementia and other late-life conditions. You don’t need your genome sequence to make good lifestyle decisions.
Joel:
My last interview with a new Cardiologist ended up in disagreement. He wanted no part of my telling him history.
He wants to code me for Metoprolol usage for cholesterol and I told him, my cholesterol has always been within the medical limits. When I had open heart surgery, it was 113. Most recently and without fasting the VA found it at 129. Tris at 79 and LDL at 71. HDL at 45. It is like leave me alone. I was never on Statins till open heart and my use of it is for prevention at 10mg Atorvastatin and after surgery.
I had a good cardiologist in Michigan . . . Bramahgee. We could really discuss things (politics, what am I doing, etc.). Finding another good one who will talk rather than demand has been difficult.
@Bill,
Sorry to hear this. The lay public often fails to appreciate that MDeities are not scientists, and many don’t keep up with developments in medicine after their residencies. I once asked a former MD/PhD colleague why he pursued a research career rather than the more lucrative practice of medicine. He said it was because he came to realize that in medicine, he would be paid to choose among 12 different diagnoses and about eight different therapies. As a medical school professor for 37 years, this didn’t surprise me. The term “evidence-based medicine” was new and controversial when I started on the faculty.
Coberly:
Not related to the post.