Low-fat food regimen may enhance your threat of dementia by a fifth, professional warns

Fat is commonly demonised due to its hyperlink to severe health issues, starting from high cholesterol to heart disease.

However, not all fats deserves such a foul status.

In truth, an professional has warned that not consuming sufficient fats may spell unhealthy news to your dementia threat.

Patrick Holford, Founder of the Food for the Brain Foundation, stated: “There are two reasons why a low-fat diet can increase dementia risk. 

“The first is that a low-fat diet is low in essential omega-3 fats which has been shown to increase the risk of dementia by a fifth. 

“[Furthermore], to remove or lower the fat content, you have to replace the fat with something, which is usually carbohydrate.

“This increases the glycaemic load (GL) of the food and raises blood glucose levels. 

“People in midlife with high blood glucose – even people in the upper normal range – have increased brain atrophy, impaired cognition and increased risk of dementia.”

Don’t simply take the professional’s phrase for it, as research, printed within the European Journal of Nutrition additionally linked excessive GL to lowered cognitive capability.

Looking at 208 contributors aged between 64 and 93 years, the analysis staff assessed the contributors’ food regimen through the use of a meals frequency questionnaire.

Furthermore, their cognitive capability was examined utilizing one other type of examination.

The findings steered that “prudent” dietary patterns – suppose fruit, greens, fish, low-fat dairy and restricted quantities of pink meat – had been linked to higher cognitive function.

On the opposite hand, those that consumed the everyday “Western” diet, which is excessive in pink meat and white bread however low in fruit and greens, scored poorly.

The analysis staff concluded that consumption of a excessive glycaemic food regimen is related to “poorer” cognitive efficiency.

How to eat extra omega-3s

While saturated fats is the sort accountable for a better threat of well being issues, unsaturated fats has some health-promoting methods hidden up its sleeve. 

Omega-3, which is essential for sustaining the construction and performance of mind cells, describes an important fatty acid that belongs beneath this good kind.

Linked to a decrease threat of cognitive decline, omega-3s might be discovered within the likes of salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, walnuts, flaxseeds and chia seeds.