WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A meat-rich diet may offer potential benefits for older adults who have a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in The JAMA Network Open.
The APOE gene is closely linked to Alzheimer's risk. While balanced diets that include both meat and vegetables are generally recommended for brain health, it is still unclear whether dietary guidelines should vary based on a person's genetic profile. The researchers noted that understanding how diet interacts with the APOE genotype could help refine strategies to prevent cognitive decline.
'This study tested the hypothesis that people with APOE 3/4 and 4/4 would have a reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia with higher meat intake, based on the fact that APOE4 is the evolutionarily oldest variant of the APOE gene and may have arisen during a period when our evolutionary ancestors ate a more animal-based diet,' said first author Jakob Norgren, a researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet.
The recent study followed more than 2,100 participants from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) for upto 15 years. All participants were aged 60 or older and had no diagnosis of dementia at the beginning of the study. Researchers examined the relationship between self-reported dietary habits and cognitive health, while adjusting for factors such as age, sex, education, and lifestyle.
The findings showed that among individuals with lower meat consumption, those carrying APOE 3/4 or 4/4 variants had more than twice the risk of developing dementia compared to non-carriers. However, this increased risk was not observed among the one-fifth of participants who consumed the highest amounts of meat. In this group, the median intake was about 870 grams per week, based on a standardized daily energy intake of 2,000 calories.
'Those who ate more meat overall had significantly slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia, but only if they had the APOE 3/4 or 4/4 gene variants,' explained Norgren.
'There is a lack of dietary research into brain health, and our findings suggest that conventional dietary advice may be unfavourable to a genetically defined subgroup of the population. For those who are aware that they belong to this genetic risk group, the findings offer hope; the risk may be modifiable through lifestyle changes. '
Despite these findings, the researchers cautioned that the study is observational and does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Further intervention studies are needed to determine whether higher meat consumption directly influences dementia risk in individuals with genetic susceptibility.
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