What's the best way to stay healthy in the face of so much conflicting nutrition information?

Well ideally you would go to the source the gold standard the pure viewed medical literature and read through the stacks of the latest medical journals

But who's got time for that? I do

Welcome to the nutrition facts podcast. I'm your host Dr. Michael Greger

Don't tell me you haven't put some serious thought on how to avoid

dementia a brain disease that has no real cure as of yet. Here's our first story

Although it's known that plant-based foods are important for physical health less is known about the relationship between plant-based foods and

cognitive health now in terms of preventing Alzheimer's and other forms of actual dementia

There's data that those who consume meat including poultry and fish have two to three times the risk of developing dementia compared with

vegetarians

What about just like day-to-day function greater adherence to more plant-based dietary pattern was related to better performance on all

cognitive tasks researchers measured

One possible mechanism that could have been thought to underlie the results is body weight

I mean plant-based diets reduced BMI and lower BMI has been associated with better cognitive function

But they still found a connection between more plants and better brain function even after controlling for weight

Another possible mechanism linking diet and cognition is

Inflammation that's how saturated fat impairs the memory of lab rats to brain inflammation and since fiber can be anti-inflammatory and meet pro-inflammatory

That may help explain some of the effects of plant-based diets on health and cognition

The saturated fat connection appears to extend to human cognition a

Systematic review of meta-analysis covering nine studies found that increased saturated fat intake which is found mostly meat

Dairy and junk was associated with a 40% increased risk of cognitive impairment and nearly 90% higher risk of Alzheimer's disease

So wait does that mean if you put people on a low-carb diet it impairs their brain function?

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