Daily consumption of processed meat, the equivalent to one rasher of bacon, is associated with a 44% increased risk of developing dementia, according to large UK analysis, writes MedicalBrief. However, some consumption of unprocessed red meat, such as beef, pork or veal, may be protective.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that having the APOE ε4 genotype increased the risk of dementia by four to six times but did not significantly modify the associations between meat eating and dementia risk.
Researchers from the University of Leeds' Nutritional Epidemiology Group used data from 500,000 people over an eight-year time frame, found that consuming a 25g serving of processed meat a day, the equivalent to one rasher of bacon, is associated with a 44% increased risk of developing the disease. But their findings also show eating some unprocessed red meat, such as beef, pork or veal, could be protective, as people who consumed 50g a day were 19% less likely to develop dementia.
The researchers were exploring a potential link between consumption of meat and the development of dementia, a health condition that affects 5%-8% of over 60s worldwide.
Commenting on the study, health experts and statisticians said the results should be interpreted with care.
"It's very important not to read too much into this study," said Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University. "The trouble is that people who eat different amounts of processed meat also differ in many other ways apart from their meat consumption." "The study can't show that processed meat actually causes an increase in dementia risk, any more than it can show that eating non-processed red meat can cause dementia risk to decrease. The findings are interesting, but they don't establish anything for certain."
Prof Paul Matthews, director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, said: "Interventions for reducing disease risk must be targeted appropriately to avoid more harm than benefit. It is premature to propose changing dietary recommendations on the basis of associations like these alone."
Robert Howard, professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, commented: "As a doctor who works clinically with people with dementia and conducts research into potential dementia treatments, the data wouldn't persuade me to give up my breakfast bacon."
Lead researcher Huifeng Zhang, a PhD student from the University of Leeds School of Food Science and Nutrition, said: "Worldwide, the prevalence of dementia is increasing and diet as a modifiable factor could play a role. Our research adds to the growing body of evidence linking processed meat consumption, to increased risk of a range of non-transmissible diseases."
The team studied data provided by UK Biobank, a database containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants aged 40 to 69, to investigate associations between consuming different types of meat and risk of developing dementia. The data included how often participants consumed different kinds of meat, with six options from never to once or more daily, collected in 2006-2010 by the UK Biobank.
The study did not specifically assess the impact of a vegetarian or vegan diet on dementia risk, but it included data from people who said they did not eat red meat. Among the participants, 2,896 cases of dementia emerged over an average of eight years of follow up. These people were generally older, more economically deprived, less educated, more likely to smoke, less physically active, more likely to have stroke history and family dementia history, and more likely to be carriers of a gene which is highly associated with dementia. More men than women were diagnosed with dementia in the study population.
Some people were three to six times more likely to develop dementia due to well established genetic factors, but the findings suggest the risks from eating processed meat were the same whether or not a person was genetically predisposed to developing the disease.
Those who consumed higher amounts of processed meat were more likely to be male, less educated, smokers, overweight or obese, had lower intakes of vegetables and fruits, and had higher intakes of energy, protein, and fat (including saturated fat).
Meat consumption has previously been associated with dementia risk, but this is believed to be the first large-scale study of participants over time to examine a link between specific meat types and amounts, and the risk of developing the disease.
There are around 50m dementia cases globally, with around 10m new cases diagnosed every year. Alzheimer's Disease makes up 50% to 70% of cases, and vascular dementia around 25%. Its development and progression are associated with both genetic and environmental factors, including diet and lifestyle.
Zhang said: "Further confirmation is needed, but the direction of effect is linked to current healthy eating guidelines suggesting lower intakes of unprocessed red meat could be beneficial for health."
Cade said: “Anything we can do to explore potential risk factors for dementia may help us to reduce rates of this debilitating condition. This analysis is a first step towards understanding whether what we eat could influence that risk."
Study details
Meat consumption and risk of incident dementia: cohort study of 493,888 UK Biobank participants
Huifeng Zhang, Darren C Greenwood, Harvey A Risch, David Bunce, Laura J Hardie, Janet E Cade
Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on 22 March 2021
Abstract
Background
Worldwide, the prevalence of dementia is increasing and diet as a modifiable factor could play a role. Meat consumption has been cross-sectionally associated with dementia risk, but specific amounts and types related to risk of incident dementia remain poorly understood.
Objective
We aimed to investigate associations between meat consumption and risk of incident dementia in the UK Biobank cohort.
Methods
Meat consumption was estimated using a short dietary questionnaire at recruitment and repeated 24-h dietary assessments. Incident all-cause dementia comprising Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD) was identified by electronic linkages to hospital and mortality records. HRs for each meat type in relation to each dementia outcome were estimated in Cox proportional hazard models. Interactions between meat consumption and the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele were additionally explored.
Results
Among 493,888 participants included, 2896 incident cases of all-cause dementia, 1006 cases of AD, and 490 cases of VD were identified, with mean ± SD follow-up of 8 ± 1.1 y. Each additional 25 g/day intake of processed meat was associated with increased risks of incident all-cause dementia (HR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.24, 1.67; P-trend < 0.001) and AD (HR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.96; P-trend = 0.001). In contrast, a 50-g/d increment in unprocessed red meat intake was associated with reduced risks of all-cause dementia (HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.69, 0.95; P-trend = 0.011) and AD (HR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.92; P-trend = 0.009). The linear trend was not significant for unprocessed poultry and total meat. Regarding incident VD, there were no statistically significant linear trends identified, although for processed meat, higher consumption categories were associated with increased risks. The APOE ε4 allele increased dementia risk by 3 to 6 times but did not modify the associations with diet significantly.
Conclusion
These findings highlight processed-meat consumption as a potential risk factor for incident dementia, independent of the APOE ε4 allele.
[link url="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/uol-epm031921.php"]University of Leeds School of Food Science and Nutrition material[/link]
[link url="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ajcn/nqab028/6178922?redirectedFrom=fulltext"]American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study (Restricted access)[/link]
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