More Plant Intake, Less Meat Consumption Linked to Reduced Alzheimer's Risk, Study Finds

A comprehensive review has discovered specific diet types that could affect one's likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's Disease

All over the world, over 55 million individuals are affected by dementia. There are also roughly 10 million new cases each year. While there are different forms of dementia, the most common form is Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for roughly 70% of the total cases.

Alzheimer's disease and other dementia types have certain risk factors, including age, heady injury, family genetics and history, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, excessive alcohol consumption, and smoking.

In recent times, diet has been examined to be a factor that may contribute to or reduce Alzheimer's risk.

Dementia and Poor Diet

The authors of the review "Diet's Role in Modifying Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: History and Present Understanding" looked into ecological studies of different countries and also cross-sectional and prospective observational studies. They did so to discover how various diets could affect the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers observed in ecological studies that meat consumption was most strongly linked to a higher number of individuals suffering from Alzheimer's. With this, they concluded that meat consumption was the single and most crucial risk factor for Alzheimer's disease that pertains to diet.

The other observational studies examined different dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, the Western diet, the MIND diet, and the DASH diet. The Mediterranean diet stresses the consumption of grains, legumes, fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts, and small quantities of dairy, meat, alcohol, and eggs. On the other hand, the Western diet is marked by high-energy and low-nutrient foods. Such foods also have high levels of added salt, sugar, and saturated fat.

Similar to the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet encourages the consumption of low-fat dairy products. Both diets recommend limited saturated fat, sugar, and red meat intake.

The MIND diet is a mix of the two eating patterns. However, it stresses weekly and daily recommendations for varying food groups.

Among these dietary patterns, the Mediterranean was observed to reduce risk the most. The Western diet was observed to have a relative risk of 46%, while the MIND diet had a relative risk of 47% and the DASH diet had a relative risk of 61%.

Dr. Emer MacSweeney, who is a consultant neuroradiologist and the CEO of Re:Cognition Health, explains that the study suggests the adoption of a diet that is like the Mediterranean, which stresses vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains while de-emphasizing ultra-processed foods, saturated fats, and red meat is linked to lower Alzheimer's disease risk.

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