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Thursday 24 February 2011

Excess dietary carbohydrates and deficiency in dietary fats and cholesterol linked to Alzheimer's !

 
Alzheimer's disease is a devastating disease whose recent increase in incidence rates has broad implications for rising health care costs. Huge amounts of research money are currently being invested in seeking the underlying cause, with corresponding progress in understanding the disease progression. In this paper, we highlight how an excess of dietary carbohydrates, particularly fructose, alongside a relative deficiency in dietary fats and cholesterol, may lead to the development of Alzheimer's disease. A first step in the pathophysiology of the disease is represented by advanced glycation end-products in crucial plasma proteins concerned with fat, cholesterol, and oxygen transport. This leads to cholesterol deficiency in neurons, which significantly impairs their ability to function. Over time, a cascade response leads to impaired glutamate signaling, increased oxidative damage, mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction, increased risk to microbial infection, and, ultimately, apoptosis. Other neurodegenerative diseases share many properties with alzheimer's disease, and may also be due in large part to this same underlying cause.
  
 
Recent population studies have confirmed a correlation between low blood serum cholesterol and both dementia and Parkinson's disease. A study published in 2007 compared three elderly population groups: subjects with dementia, subjects with depression, and controls. They found that those with dementia and depression had significantly lower serum cholesterol levels than the controls. Another study looking at Parkinson's disease among the elderly showed that those with the lowest LDL had 3.5 times the risk of Parkinson's disease compared to those with the highest serum LDL levels.

"Simple dietary modification, towards fewer highly-processed carbohydrates and relatively more fats and cholesterol, is likely a protective measure against Alzheimer's disease." 


 http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/EJIM_PUBLISHED.pdf


 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cases of dementia just like diabetes and obesity are on the rise despite all the advances in medical science, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate the role of saturated fat! It's no coincidence that since the demonising of fat all these conditions have increased year on year.


Angela

Anonymous said...

I agree with Angela and so do the stats.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7846930.stm

Lowcarb warrior princess said...

I agree, Ancel Keys and the producers of cheap carbs have a lot to answer for

Lowcarb team member said...

Hardly a week goes by when we are not warned about the dangers of foods that contain saturated fats. Never any heath warnings regarding sugar, cereals and other manmade factory produced junk. GM foods are now part of the food chain. Multinational food companies control the media and Governments can't even control the descriptions placed on food packaging. Children are targeted by the peddlers of high sugar/starch poison which ensures a new generation of victims for big pharma. People are lied to and poisoned from the cradle to the grave.

Eddie