Meat and Dementia: Advanced Glycation End Products Increase Risk of Cognitive Impairment

Meat lovers, beware. A recent study shows that frying or even boiling various meats may increase the risk of dementia for some individuals.

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York studied a group of mice models to determine the effects of browning, grilling or frying meat and an increased risk of dementia

For this, the researchers gave the mice a diet that was either high or low in advanced gylcation end-product (AGEs), which are created when proteins or fats combine and react to sugar. The researchers found that AGEs are created naturally when meats are browning in the oven, cooked or grilled.

Findings showed that mice who had a diet high in AGE ended up with impaired cognitive function, along with poorer physical capabilities and a harder time with thinking tasks. These mice also showed defective beta amyloid protein build-up in the brain that is typically an indicator of Alzheimer's disease. Yet those with a diet low in AGE did not exhibit similar symptoms.

"We report that age-related dementia may be causally linked to high levels of food advanced glycation end products," the authors said, according to BBC News. "Importantly, reduction of food-derived AGEs is feasible and may provide an effective treatment strategy."

Based on a short-term analysis of seniors over the age of 60, researchers discovered a link between high levels of AGEs that are present in the blood and mental decline. The research team monitored 93 adults for the analysis, who provided blood samples and filled out standard questionnaires that screened for dementia. Findings stated that the sample set was extremely small and not well-controlled, which meant that the researchers showed no control over certain factors in other people's lives that could have harmed their mental health.

"We need larger, well-controlled studies to identify a strict correlation between dietary AGEs and cognitive [mental] decline," said Dr. Jeremy Koppel, a geriatric psychiatrist and scientist at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y via WebMD. "The take-away is that a diet enriched in these compounds seems to do bad things in mice."

What do you think?

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.