People with Alzheimer's gene may lower their risk by eating more meat: Why?

• People with the APOE4 allele in the 4/4 genotype had a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia if they consumed relatively high amounts of meat.
• Eating a greater proportion of unprocessed meat was also associated with less all-cause mortality among this group of people.
• The APOE4 allele is the strongest risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

In a new observational study from Sweden, people with a genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease had a lower risk of developing this form of dementia if they consumed large amounts of meat.

“Those who ate more meat overall had significantly slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia, but only if they had the APOE 3/4 or 4/4 gene variants,” said study author Jakob Norgren, PhD, in a press release.

This finding might come as a surprise considering that most dietary advice around preventing Alzheimer’s or age-related cognitive decline has focused on eating plant foods.

“There is a lack of dietary research into brain health,” argued Norgren, “and our findings suggest that conventional dietary advice may be unfavourable to a genetically defined subgroup of the population.”