Low-Glycemic, Low-Sat-Fat Diet May Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease

Older adults experiencing cognitive difficulties might be able to lower the risk of developing dementia that proceeds to Alzheimer’s disease by eating a low-glycemic diet that is also low in saturated fats, U.S. scientists have found. Researchers have known for some time that diet is linked to cognitive ability, but the impact of a specific type of diet on “pathological brain aging” has not been explored. For this study, involving older adults who were either healthy or memory-impaired, 24 participants followed a high-saturated fat/high-simple carbohydrate diet and 25 followed a low-saturated fat/low-simple carbohydrate diet. Findings indicated that “diet may be a powerful environmental factor that modulates Alzheimer disease risk through its effects on central nervous system concentrations of Aβ42, lipoproteins, oxidative stress, and insulin.”