Fast Food Linked to Alzheimer's?
The study was carried out at Karolinska Institutet's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, by a team led by Susanne Akterin (you can read their press release here). They believe that the changes in the mice's brains may indicate that human brains undergo similar alterations when eating a large amount of fast food.
Reuters reported on the study, explaining that Akterin's research into Alzheimer's was focused on the gene varient apoE4 (which is found in 15 - 20% of the population, and is a known risk factor for Alzheimer's).
[Akterin] studied mice genetically engineered to mimic the effect of the variant gene [apoE4] in humans, and which were fed a diet rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol for nine months -- meals representing the nutritional content of fast food. - Research on mice links fast food to Alzheimer's, Reuters
The study team admit that more research is needed in this area before their finding can be presented as advice to the public. It suggests that individuals with the apoE4 gene may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's if they avoid fast food. The health dangers of excessive fast food (with its saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar) are well known, and this study could be yet another another reason to ensure that burgers and fries don't become a regular part of your diet.
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It would have been extremely valuable to design the study in a way which could separate the effects of sugar from the effects of saturated fat. This should surely have been easy to do since they were using mice and controlling their diet.
ReplyHi Ali, fancy seeing you here :)... interesting piece. Thanx. P
ReplyI don't get this study. The researchers seem to want to conclude that cholesterol or fat was the culprit, but the two diets were completely different.
If you look at the thesis -
Standard diet: wheat, barley, soya, wheat-germ, wheat flour, wheat bran, potato protein, minerals, vegetable fats, vitamins, trace elements
"cholesterol-enriched" diet: corn starch, cocoa butter, casein, glucose, sucrose, cellulose flour, minerals, vitamins, cholesterol (0.15%)
If they wanted to see cholesterol's effects on Alzheimers, why didn't they use the same diet except one with added cholesterol? I could have sworn that everyone learns about controlling one variable at a time in middle school science classes. I don't see how you can make any conclusions from this study at all.
ReplySo the fat they added was cocoa butter. Cocoa butter has a 28:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. Do you think that's what caused the damage?
I agree, this study is bunk. There are too many variables.
ReplyI would've liked to see the mice fed a diet that was more identical to a real fast-food diet. They should've used the same type and levels of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sugar found in a real fast food meal. They're definitely going to have to do quite a bit more research in order to prove their point.
ReplyGreat read! Thank you! Losing weight as been a struggle for me, but I am finally getting it going! I bought a really nice scale that helps. I got it at www.vitalitymedical.com.
ReplyWhile I'm not I understand all the ins and outs of the study - it also ties up with other research that says there is some kind of a link between Alzheimers and obesity (so long as we're also assuming that the obese are the ones eating the fast foods)
ReplyI know people, God be good to them, who had this disease, who would never have touched fast food a day in their life. It may be a trigger for some people though. What an awful disease.
ReplyAs much as possible we should minimize eating on fast foods for we are already aware of the bad effects on our health.
ReplyWow just incredible. I get people that ask me all the time why are you soo concerned about your weight and I say its not the weight thats the issue its the health factors that come from being overweight and unhealthy.
ReplySo is it the fat, cholesterol or sugars that are responsible?
Were the subjects supplementing with omega-3's?
What a craptastic study. Thanks for sharing, diet blog!
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