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

  • psudEnglish
    4·
    10 hours ago

    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

  • psudEnglish
    3·
    9 hours ago

    Your article says processed meat, your title says red meat?

  • Alteon@lemmy.world
    32·
    21 hours ago

    Is this why Meatheads like Joe Rogan and RFK Jr. so hardcore about the whole red meat thing? Does cognitive decline make you a real man?

    • Darkenfolk@dormi.zone
      31·
      19 hours ago

      Of course it doesn’t. It’s just… Real men where never meant to reach an age where cognitive decline would ever be an issue.

      Age 45/50 max, fermenting in the stomach of a sabertooth tiger or dying to a preventable sickness by ‘walking it off’

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
        3·
        12 hours ago

        Most science puts the age of elders in nomadic prehistoric groups between 60 and 70. Infant mortality was a problem, but once the child was over puberty, they tended to live longer than their early farmer counterparts.