Fat Intake and Alzheimer’s
Recent research findings suggest that those who eat large quantities of saturated fats faced a dramatically increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s. Scientists from Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, evaluated a stratified random sample of 815 community residents aged 65 years and older who were unaffected by Alzheimer disease at baseline and who completed a food-frequency questionnaire a mean of 2.3 years before clinical evaluation.
The results published in Archives of Neurology showed that after a 3.9 year follow-up, 131 participants had developed Alzheimer’s. Intakes of saturated fat and trans-unsaturated fat were positively associated with risk of Alzheimer disease, whereas intakes of polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat were inversely associated.
They concluded that “high intake of unsaturated, unhydrogenated fats may be protective against Alzheimer disease, whereas intake of saturated or trans-unsaturated (hydrogenated) fats may increase risk.
Arch Neurol. 2003;60:194-200
