Regularly on the table for many: This food could enormously increase your risk of dementia

Whether smoked, salted or matured: According to a new study, processed meat is said to increase the risk of developing dementia.

Consuming just 25 grams of processed meat should be enough to increase the

risk of dementia by 44 percent

- that's roughly

equivalent to a slice of bacon

.

Researchers from the University of Leeds and the Yale School of Public Health presented these results in a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Increased risk of dementia with daily consumption of processed meat

For the study, the research group evaluated the data of almost 500,000 people from the British biobank.

In addition to the increased risk of dementia with

daily consumption of unprocessed meat

, there is also positive news: The consumption of unprocessed red meat, such as beef, pork or veal, could have a protective effect against dementia.

People who ate

50 grams of unprocessed red meat per day had a 19 percent lower risk

.

“The prevalence of dementia is increasing around the world, and diet as a modifiable factor could play an important role.

Our research supports the results of other studies that show associations between the consumption of processed meat and the risk of various non-communicable diseases, ”said study author Dr.

Huifeng Zhang from the University of Leeds in a press release.

Processed meat: These people were more likely to develop dementia

Around 3,000 participants developed dementia over an average follow-up period of eight years.

According to the study, the people who

ate

more processed meat were

more likely

to

be male, less physically active, overweight or obese, less educated, smoked more and ate less fruit and vegetables, but more protein and fat

.

Those affected also had a history of stroke and a family history of dementia more often.

Still, according to the researchers, the results suggest that the risks of developing dementia from eating unprocessed meat, regardless of genetic factors, were the same.

Also interesting

: this eating habit significantly lowers your risk of cancer.

Study on the risk of dementia: Stay away from processed meat?

Even if the study results appear clear at first glance, they are viewed critically by some researchers.

Kevin McConway, Professor Emeritus of Applied Statistics at the Open University, explains that not too much should be interpreted into the study, since it is

purely a matter of observations

: “The researchers did not

induce

people to use different amounts of processed food Eating meat - they just recorded what they said what they ate, tracked them for some time, recorded when either of them was diagnosed with dementia, and looked at whether the likelihood of getting a diagnosis of dementia It depends on how much meat they say they ate. ”That is why the study cannot prove that processed meat increases the risk of dementia.

Prof. Paul Matthews, Director of the British Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, sees it similarly: "Risk, as it is defined in this study, means association, but provides

no evidence that the consumption of processed meat causes dementia

." the study show that lifestyle and environmental factors have an influence on the risk of dementia diseases.

(fk)

To the study

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