An unhealthy diet filled with high-cholesterol foods can increase your risk of Alzheimer's Disease, say scientists.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...in_page_id=1798

Studies have found that eating lots of foods containing saturated fats, such as butter and red meat, can boost levels of proteins in the brain linked to dementia.

Now scientists have discovered this may be because such a diet affects cholesterol-clearing substances in the brain.

They hope the discovery could lead to new drugs which allow the clogging fats to be cleared more effectively and so help slow down the progression of the debilitating brain condition.

In Britain 500,000 people have Alzheimer's Disease in which the progressive loss of their brain cells leads to memory loss, mood changes and eventually death.

One of the key characteristics of people with the condition is the formation of clumps, or 'plaques' of beta amyloid proteins which are thought to destroy brain cells.

Scientists increasingly believe diet and lifestyle may affect the build up of these damaging proteins.

Studies have found a Mediterranean-style diet rich in plant foods and fish and low in red meat cuts the risk of developing the brain disease by up to two-thirds.

Research in mice has also found that those given high-cholesterol diets have more amyloid beta proteins in their brain.

And there is growing evidence that taking cholesterol-lowering statins makes people less likely to develop Alzheimer's later in life.

To understand what lay behind this trend, Dr Brett Garner, of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney, Australia, and his colleagues used human and animal cells to probe how brain cells regulate their levels of cholesterol.

In the arteries it is known that ABC proteins help control cholesterol levels by expelling it from the immune cells.

The study, reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry found these proteins were also present in the brain cells.

When the boosted levels of the proteins by tweaking genes that affect production, cell lines production of amyloid beta protein fell.

The study also identified another protein in brain cells called apoE that regulates cholesterol removal from brain cells.

Dr Garner told New Scientist magazine that drugs that increase expression of these proteins might slow the progression of Alzheimer's.

Similar drugs are already being used for research into heart disease.

He said: "A lot of people think there could be converging factors involved in these diseases."

Large amounts of harmful cholesterol are found in foods high in saturated fats such as red meat, butter, cheese and offal such as liver and kidneys.

If people have a diet high in saturated fats, their liver produces more of the harmful form of cholesterol called LDL, which is linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Scientists increasingly believe an unhealthy diet may be a contributing factor in developing dementia.

Previous research has found fish oil capsules may help slow the mental decline of those with very mild Alzheimer's disease.

Last September a team from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee found drinking fruit and vegetable juices more than three times a week could dramatically cut the chances of developing the condition.

Researchers from who followed almost 2,000 volunteers for up to ten years found the risk of Alzheimer's was 76 per cent lower for those who drank juices more than three times a week compared with those who drank them less than once a week.

Japanese scientists also found last year that green tea could halve the risk of mental decline in old age.

They found those who drank the tea the most - more than two cups a day - had a 54 per cent lower risk of dementia than those who drank the least.

Do we really need more of this? I mean haven't we talked about this kind of study that looks at the fat but ignore the carbs?

What does 'clogging fats', whatever the heck those are, have to do with proteins? Proteins are not made from fats, they are made from amino acids.

Chris Masterjohn has a excellent debunking of the alleged link between cholesterol and Alzheimer's on his website.

Looks like another ad campaign for the statins. Maybe it reduces Alzheimer's risk because you die from kidney failure, Parkinson's Disease, cancer or CHF first.

That is a moot point. When there are mechanisms that have already demonstrated showing that high cholesterol is bad for alzheimers disease, and accelerates it. Both in vivo and in vitro studies confirm this link more than once. Not only that, there seems to be a dose dependant effect of more cholesterol and more risk of this disease. Yes there is a link between refined carb intake and alzheimers, but ever thought about multiple risk factors? Like high refined carb intake, and high saturated/cholesterol intake both causing negative effect? Are you suggesting that people should be ignorant to new research?

I found the Mediterranean diet study a good one. Which used a point system and the 'traditional med diet' rich in plant foods and fish and low in red meat cut the risk of developing the brain disease by up to 66%. Plenty of carbs for those who followed the diet most closely. Only the carbs were good carbs. Those that ate red meat and more saturated fat had a higher risk. The less those in the study adhered to traditional mediterranean diet the higher the risk.

Nope I'm saying the study doesn't appear complete... and in this case it looks primarily at fat/cholesterol but ignores the carb, then to me it's incomplete and I'm not going to pay this kind of study a lot of attention. It unfairly casts cholesterol as the bad guy. Besides I'm a pretty good example of someone who's lived primarily on fat but have remained in great health. For 4 years eating a lot of fat and cholesterol.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

How did they determine this? Did they ask the alzheimer's patient what they ate every day so they would know? I don't understand statistics, never claimed to, so I understand how I appear ignorant about this, but can someone please explain to me how they could take, say 2,000 people and study them for the lifetime it would take for them to develop a disease such as alzheimers and determine that in a population of millions, if you eat less red meat you won't get it.

My 86 year old grandmother, who has severe and worsening Alzheimer's, has eaten a low fat diet for the last 20 years (because she was trying to lose weight).

When I was young and overweight, she always told me that I should avoid cream, butter, cheese, etc, and eat pasta and rice instead.

Recent research has indicated that Alzheimer's is a third level of diabetes and is caused by high bg damage.

The brain is actually 60% fat and runs on fats.

Alzheimers has increased with the rise in low fat, high carb, vegetable fats, and trans fat diets.

Maybe I'm missing something, but where are the facts and findings here? All I see is a bunch of idle suppostitions , irrelevant hodgepodge, and guesswork, trying to fill out a story.

This article is a random collection of half-baked speculation and non sequitirs.


"Diets filled with high cholesterol foods"

I see NOTHING in this article that shows a link between high-cholesterol foods and Alzheimers.

"Studies have found that eating lots of foods containing saturated fats, such as butter and red meat, can boost levels of proteins in the brain linked to dementia"

Ah, but NO data whatsoever that links saturated fats alone to actual cases of Alzheimers. And what does this have to do with 'cholesterol-rich' food? Shrimp and other seafood -- low in saturated fat -- is quite high in cholesterol. Which is it?

"Scientists increasingly BELIEVE diet and lifestyle may affect the build up of these damaging proteins."

Idle speculation. Any FACTS to support this? Believing don't make it so. Are the proteins causal? Or an artifact? Or a result?

"Research in mice has also found that those given high-cholesterol diets have more amyloid beta proteins in their brain."

Wait, I thought it was a rich saturated fat diet? And did these mice develop Alzheimers? Or not? Relevance?

"The study, reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry found these proteins were also present in the brain cells.

"When the[y] boosted levels of the proteins by TWEAKING GENES that affect production, CELL LINES production of amyloid beta protein fell."

Neat. Tweak genes in a test tube and cultures of cells produce less amyloid. Sorry, but this doesn't say ANYTHING about people developing Alzheimers. Is beta amyloid causal in Alzheimers? Or is it an artifact or consequence of the disease? No one knows exactly. So why is this even mentioned in the article?

"In the arteries it is known that ABC proteins help control cholesterol levels by expelling it from the immune cells."

Nice random 'fact.' What does this have to do with people with Alzheimers?

"A lot of people THINK there could be converging factors involved in these diseases."

Thinking is nice. Not fact.

". . .that drugs that increase expression of these proteins MIGHT slow the progression of Alzheimer's.

Okay. Develop such a drug. Do the clinical tests, get the data, and report back.

"Scientists increasingly BELIEVE an unhealthy diet MAY be a CONTRIBUTING in developing dementia."

Nice speculation. Vague, non-scientific, non-specific term 'unhealthy'.

"Previous research has found fish oil capsules MAY HELP SLOW
the mental decline of those with very mild Alzheimer's disease."

Maybe, maybe not. Show the data. And oddly, people taking fish oil often find their cholesterol INCREASES. So much for the LDL cholesterol. . . or is it saturated fat. . . or is it cholesterol-rich food. . . speculation about Alzheimers.

"Last September a team from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee found drinking fruit and vegetable juices more than three times a week could dramatically cut the chances of developing the condition."

This has WHAT to do with a 'cholesterol-rich diet'????? And did they actually give people juice to drink and notice a decrease in Alzheimers? Nope. But that's what they're implying.

"Japanese scientists also found last year that green tea could halve the risk of mental decline in old age.

"They found those who drank the tea the most - more than two cups a day - had a 54 per cent lower risk of dementia than those who drank the least."

This has WHAT to do with a cholesterol-rich diet? In Japan, where they actually consumer more eggs, and more cholesterol-rich seafood than we do?

Random gibberish.

Whoa, you should know better. We all know you're a CR 'Believer', but this article is silly, random poof. If you're looking for a career in medicine, train your critical thinking skills a bit. Don't go on CR religion alone.

Whoa, I think the only reason you keep posting these articles on an ATKINS FORUM is because you lack certainty with your low calorie 'healthy' diet; history certainly isn't loaded with successful societies who have been low calorie dieters, for the mere fact that smaller, less able, people would essentially be killed off in war and battles with the superior, muscular, stronger race.

Look at the traditional Inuit Eskimo diet; it's 90+% blubber. Yet they have no CHF, Cancer, Atherosclerosis, etc etc...And their cholesterol levels are HIGH. You need to do more research on high cholesterol before you come spewing out useless information at people who know you and the majority of the health profession are wrong.

www.thincs.org

Seriously Woah...visit and read. Good stuff here.

Good article. Where would we find someone who could thoughfully adress the issues raised here?

Kind regards