Less Processed Meat, Lower the Dementia risk1
The prevalence of dementia is increasing worldwide whereas diet can be a modifiable and contributable factor to this. Although meat consumption is proven to be cross-sectionally associated with dementia risk, the associations between the meat types consumed and dementia developing risk remain poorly understood. In a study, participants’ meat consumption was estimated using a short dietary questionnaire at recruitment and repeated 24-h dietary assessments. Among the 493,888 participants, 2,896 cases of all-cause dementia have emerged over an average of eight years of follow-up. Each additional 25 g/day intakes of processed meat were associated with increased risks of incident all-cause dementia. In contrast, a 50 g/d increment in unprocessed red meat intake was associated with reduced risks of all-cause dementia. These findings suggested that lowering intakes of processed meat can be beneficial to health.
References
1. Zhang H, et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;nqab028.
