- Dementia cases in the U.S. are expected to double by 2060, and poor diet is considered a risk factor.
- A new study suggests that people who eat more processed red meat have a 13% higher risk of dementia and cognitive decline than those who don’t.
- Swapping one serving of processed red meat for nuts or legumes was associated with a 19% reduced risk of dementia.
The number of new cases of dementia diagnosed in the United States each year is projected to double by 2060, reaching 1 million cases annually.
Various factors drive dementia risk, but there is evidence to suggest that diet may play a role.
A new study has found that those who eat more red meat, particularly processed red meat, may be at higher risk for dementia and cognitive decline compared to those who consume little to no red meat.
The findings build on prior evidence linking processed red meat consumption and dementia risk, which were presented in July 2024 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia. The latest results of this research were published on January 15 in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“Red meat is high in saturated fat and has been shown in previous studies to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are both linked to reduced brain health,” Dong Wang, MD, ScD, senior author of the study and researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, said in a press statement.
“Our study found processed red meat may increase the risk of cognitive decline and dementia, but the good news is that it also found that replacing it with healthier alternatives, like nuts, fish and poultry, may reduce a person’s risk.”
Processed red meat increases dementia risk by 13%
For the study, Wang and colleagues enlisted a group of 133,771 people who had an average age of 49. They did not have dementia at the beginning of the study. The group was followed for up to 43 years.
Out of the 133,771 study participants, 11,173 developed dementia.
Every two to four years, participants were asked to keep a food diary detailing what they ate and how often they ate it.
The researchers considered unprocessed red meat as beef, lamb, pork, or hamburger. Processed red meat was defined as:
- hot dogs
- sausages
- salami
- bacon
- bologna
- other processed meat products
A serving size was considered 3 ounces, which is roughly the size of a deck of cards.
The researchers adjusted for other factors for cognitive decline along with age and sex.
They concluded that participants who were found to eat the highest amount of processed red meat had a 13% greater risk for developing dementia when compared with their peers who ate the lowest amount of meat.
For meat that wasn’t processed, there was no difference in dementia risk between those who ate, on average, less than half a serving per day and those who ate one or more servings a day.
How processed red meat affects cognitive function
Subjective cognitive decline means a person says they have memory or thinking problems before any obvious decline is significant enough to show on standard tests.
To measure this, the researchers examined more than 43,000 people in the group with an average age of 78.
They took surveys twice throughout the study period in which they rated their own thinking skills and memory.
After adjusting for other risk factors, age, and sex, the researchers found that those who ate an average of 0.25 servings or more of processed red meat each day had a 14% higher risk of subjective cognitive decline compared with those who ate an average of less than 0.10 servings of processed red meat a day.
To measure the participants’ objective cognitive function, the researchers enlisted just over 17,000 members of the group to take memory and thinking tests four times throughout the study period. The average age of this group was 74, and the participants were all female.
Objective cognitive functions refer to how well the brain can solve problems, remember, and think.
After adjusting for other risk factors like sex and age, the researchers concluded that eating higher amounts of processed red meat was associated with quicker brain aging in the area of global cognition (overall cognitive ability) by 1.61 years per additional serving of processed red meat daily.
With each additional serving of processed red meat, the area of verbal memory aged 1.69 years. Verbal memory refers to the memory of words and language.
The link between diet and dementia
Experts not involved in the new study say the findings make sense.
“It is not surprising that processed red meats can negatively affect brain health. Processed red meats are often high in fats, sodium, and sugars, which are already known to have adverse effects on the body,” Jasmin Dao, MD, PhD, a pediatric and adult neurologist at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach, CA, and MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, told Healthline.
“We are still learning about the diet and dementia connection. Many studies suggest that our diet choices can greatly affect our brain health. Healthy eating has been associated with improvement in our cognitive processing. Conversely, greater ultra-processed foods (those with artificial colorings or additives, high fructose corn syrup) intake can be damaging to the brain cells with corresponding cognitive decline and dementia,” Dao continued.
The study is the latest in a growing body of research examining the health impacts of consuming red and processed red meats.
“It is fairly well known that red meat, and especially processed red meats, are highly inflammatory, are associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and also may increase the risk for plaques in the brain which are associated with dementia and/or cognitive decline,” Dana Hunnes, PhD, a senior dietitian at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, told Healthline.
“An additional relationship is between trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and its association with increased development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The higher sodium content of processed red meats increases blood pressure, reduces blood flow to the brain (cerebral perfusion), and potentially [leads] to vascular dementia. So, given these prior known associations, I’m not surprised at all,” Hunnes added.
Can you eat red meat and still be healthy?
For those who choose to eat red meat, experts say reducing the quantity of meat in the diet can be a good place to start for promoting cognitive health.
The researchers found that swapping one serving of processed red meat a day with a serving of legumes or nuts was associated with a 19% reduced risk of dementia as well as 1.37 fewer years of cognitive aging.
Swapping a serving of processed red meat for fish had a 28% reduced risk of dementia, and swapping for chicken had a 16% lower risk of dementia.
Heather M. Snyder, PhD, senior vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, told Healthline that a diet that promotes cognitive health is all about balance. Snyder wasn’t involved in the study.
“We have long encouraged eating a balanced diet — including foods that are less processed to ensure that our bodies get the needed nutrients — because they’ve been associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline. As research continues, we may uncover other dietary patterns that increase or decrease our risk,” Snyder said.
“There isn’t a single food or ingredient that, through rigorous scientific research, has been shown to cause, increase risk, prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer’s or other dementia. It is unlikely that one food will have a significant beneficial or detrimental effect on a disease as complex as Alzheimer’s,” she continued.
Associate professor Michael Woodward, MD, an honorary medical advisor for Dementia Australia and head of Aged Care Research and the Memory Clinic at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia, told Healthline that diet is an important factor in cognitive health, but red meat is only one part of the puzzle of dementia risk. Woodward was likewise not involved in the study.
“Diet is definitely a protective factor against cognitive decline, and conversely, poor diet puts you at an increased risk. Also weight, which can be related to diet and exercise,” Woodward said.
“Being overweight is a risk factor. If you want to reduce your risk of developing cognitive decline, you need to have as Mediterranean a diet as possible, as many vegetables, fish, legumes, nuts, preferably white meat, such as fish or chicken, olive oil as your preferred oil. The Mediterranean diet is certainly beneficial,” he noted.
“Everybody should look at their diet and work out how well it aligns with a Mediterranean diet. Some red meat is, of course, quite permissible in a Mediterranean diet, but if you’re having large amounts of meat and large amounts of fat and starch with that, that may be something to look at. I would not recommend people automatically eliminate red meat from their diet to reduce their risk of cognitive decline. I don’t think we have enough data for that. I think we need to look at brain health in general, not just red meat consumption,” Woodward concluded.
Takeaway
Dementia cases in the U.S. are expected to double to 1 million new cases a year by 2060, with poor diet considered a risk factor.
Research suggests those who eat more processed red meat may be among those with an increased risk of dementia.
In a study of more than 133,000 people, those who ate the highest amount of processed red meat had a 13% greater risk of developing dementia when compared with their peers who ate the lowest amount of processed red meat.
Swapping one serving of processed red meat a day for nuts, legumes, or fish was associated with a reduction in dementia risk by 19% and 28%, respectively.
Processed Red Meat May Raise Risk of Cognitive Decline, Dementia
Source: Pinoy Lang Sakalam
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