Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. This incurable, and terminal disease was first described by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906 and was named after him. Most often, it is diagnosed in people over 65 years of age, although the less prevalent early onset Alzheimer's can occur much earlier.
The Right Fats That Help You Fight Alzheimer's
A high intake of vegetable fats and unsaturated fats appears to protect against Alzheimer's disease, but supplemental vitamins appear to have no protective effect, two studies show.
The first study followed more than 800 elderly people without Alzheimer's for 4 years.
The study found that the people who ate the most vegetable fats were 80 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those who ate the least vegetable fat. The report appeared in the medical journal Archives of Neurology.
People with a high intake of omega 6 polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat, and who had a high ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat, were 70 percent to 80 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's than people with lower intakes of these fats.
But the patients who ate the most saturated fats and transunsaturated fats, which occur when vegetable oils are partially hydrogenated in the production of commercially baked products and margarine (to make it easy to spread) - were approximately twice as likely as people eating less saturated fat to develop Alzheimer's.
Intake of total fat, animal fat and dietary cholesterol was not associated with Alzheimer's, and adjusting for beta carotene, vitamin C or vitamin E intake, smoking, alcohol and use of statins (blood cholesterol lowering medications) did not affect the results.
The mechanism for the link between dietary fat composition and Alzheimer's was not known, the researchers said.
The second study followed 980 elderly without Alzheimer's for 4 years. This This study showed that supplemental, dietary or total intake of beta carotene, vitamin C or vitamin E was not linked to developing the condition. The study also appeared in Archives of Neurology.
Age, level of education, sex, race and smoking did not affect the results.
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