New study links red meat to faster cognitive decline
New study links red meat to faster cognitive decline
Eating processed red meat, like bacon and sausages, is linked to a 16% higher dementia risk. This alarming finding highlights the importance of dietary choices in protecting cognitive function as we age.
N=133,000 over 40 year time period
Observational study so limitations may apply but the findings do hold after adjusting for a large list of factors I will quote here:
educational attainments, family history of dementia, menopausal status with hormone use status, total energy intake, regular antidepressant drug use, history of depression, BMI, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, neighborhood SES [socioeconomic status], marital status, living arrangement, smoking status, histories of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia and intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products, high-fat dairy products, and alcohol
Using the nurses study data. A food frequency questionnaire
Do you remember what you ate for lunch Monday? How about 5 years ago? That's what a food frequency questionnaire asks. This one counts a McDonald's big Mac meal with a bucket of coke as "red meat"
Garbage in/garbage out
Well, a big mac contains a beef burger, which is actually processed meat, which is known to increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's.
Known, thanks to the nurses study which doesn't control for healthy user bias, doesn't collect enough information to know whether the was meat in that burger
It may have been fish burgers
It may have been impossible burgers
It may have been vegeburgers
It may have been a large double whopper meal
Also it's not "known" it's correlated, the more times a week a person eats red meat for example "burgers" or processed meat for example "hotdogs" the note likely they're going to have some bad effects. I suspect it's the sugar that comes with the meat
It doesn't ask about fast food meals, it asks "burgers?"
Your article says processed meat, your title says red meat?
I keep hearing about how red meat is fucking us up but isn't red meat in our diet one of the reasons we're so smart?
Yes, but we're eating way way more than ever before because of how easy it is to obtain in the modern age, same issue with sugar
Well, I'm fucked.