Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Diet high in cholesterol can trigger onset of Alzheimer's, warn scientists

An unhealthy diet filled with high-cholesterol foods can increase your risk of Alzheimer's Disease, say scientists.

Studies have found that eating lots of foods containing saturated fats, such as butter and red meat, can boost levels of proteins in the brain linked to dementia. Now scientists have discovered this may be because such a diet affects cholesterol-clearing substances in the brain.

They hope the discovery could lead to new drugs which allow the clogging fats to be cleared more effectively and so help slow down the progression of the debilitating brain condition.

In Britain 500,000 people have Alzheimer's Disease in which the progressive loss of their brain cells leads to memory loss, mood changes and eventually death.
One of the key characteristics of people with the condition is the formation of clumps, or 'plaques' of beta amyloid proteins which are thought to destroy brain cells.

Scientists increasingly believe diet and lifestyle may affect the build up of these damaging proteins.

Studies have found a Mediterranean-style diet rich in plant foods and fish and low in red meat cuts the risk of developing the brain disease by up to two-thirds.
Research in mice has also found that those given high-cholesterol diets have more amyloid beta proteins in their brain.

And there is growing evidence that taking cholesterol-lowering statins makes people less likely to develop Alzheimer's later in life.

Source - Daily Mail

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