People’s love for processed meat may come back to bite them in the long run, suggests new research from the UK. The study found a link between greater consumption of processed meat and higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. At the same time, he also found a possible link between eating unprocessed meat and a lower risk of dementia.
Processed meats such as bacon, dried meat and hot dogs do not have exactly one reputation for being healthy in the first place. Another research has suggested that diets rich in these foods are associated with chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. Some studies have even pointed to a link between processed meats and the increased risk of neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as episodes of bipolar depression.
There was mixed evidence that a meat-rich diet it can increase a person’s risk of dementia in his later years. But according to the authors of this new study, Published Monday in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, there has been less work to separate the possible risk of dementia from different types of meat (processed versus no) and whether genetics can play a role in that risk.
The study was based on population data from the UK Biobank, an ongoing research project that collected genetic and health information from about half a million residents, ages 40 to 69, between 2006 and 2010. As part of the project, volunteers filled out a questionnaire about your diet at the beginning of your enrollment and in periodic online surveys for up to 16 months after. Because of the UK’s nationalized health care system, researchers were able to track the health outcomes of these participants, including whether they developed or died of dementia.
G / O Media can receive a commission
About 2,900 cases of dementia were diagnosed across the group, over an average follow-up of eight yearstime course. And when researchers tried to count people’s diets, they found a clear association between processed meat and the risk of dementia, but they didn’t see the correlation when it came to other types of meat.
For example, the associated risk of dementia increased by 44% for every 25 grams of processed meat eaten daily. But no significant link was found between the risk of dementia and total meat consumption or between the risk of dementia and a person’s daily intake of chicken. Meanwhile, the associated risk of dementia has decreased slightly for those who regularly eat unprocessed red meat (cooked meat, veal, pork, etc.).) The risk of dementia increased for those who carried the APOE ε4 genetic variation, as expected, but this risk was not affected by meat consumption.
“Our results suggest that consumption of processed meat may increase the risk of dementia, and the intake of unprocessed red meat may be associated with lower risks,” wrote the authors.
Nutritional studies like this have their limitations, of course. For example, they cannot show a direct cause-and-effect relationship between two things, only a correlation. Studying people’s diets is often difficult, since we are not the best at remembering what and how much of any food we eat regularly. And, of course, a person’s diet at 40 or 50 can still change significantly between then and the time of dementia diagnosis, years or decades later.
Any individual study should not be seen as the final verdict on a topic. More research will have to be done to discover the potential effects of an i-rich diet.n processed meats at our risk of dementia and how these diets may be causing it. That said, as mentioned earlier, this would not be the first study linking processed meats to worsening health. Therefore, while the specifications still need to be worked out, it is likely that it is in our interest to reduce bacon or sausage anyway.
“Worldwide, the prevalence of dementia is increasing and diet as a modifiable factor can play a role,” said lead author Huifeng Zhang, a doctoral student at the University of Leeds School of Food Science and Nutrition, in a communication released by the UK-based university. “Our research adds to the growing body of evidence that links the consumption of processed meat to the increased risk of a range of noncommunicable diseases.”