Thread by @KetoCounselor

Why do we need seniors to have access to a ketogenic diet to help ward off dementia? Because telling them to eat more fish and blueberries is woefully insufficient! Think I am making this up? I am not. It's time for a thread on a recent study. 🧵 (1/19)

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between consumption frequency of meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables and long-term risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease while taking into account the possibility of protopathic bias (i.e., reverse causation). (2/19)

The researchers analyzed data from the Three-city study, which followed 5,934 volunteers aged 65 and over for 12 years. (3/19)

Dietary habits were assessed at inclusion using a brief food frequency questionnaire, and the presence of dementia symptoms was investigated at each follow-up visit. (4/19)

Now don't get me wrong. I hate food frequency questionnaires. They are super dumb. But I bring this study up because suggestions from nutrition talking heads use this same kind of crappy data gathering to push blueberries, low meat consumption, and various superfoods. (5/19)

So using their own crappy data gathering and analysis tools we are going to put that nonsense to rest with the results of this study. Maybe. Probably not. But I am going to try. (6/19) #optimistic

To limit the risk of protopathic bias, the researchers implemented a 4-year lag window between exposure and disease assessment. (7/19)

For those that don't know Protopathic bias is when symptoms of a disease influence exposure, rather than the other way around, leading to false conclusions about causality in studies. The researchers made the above adjustment to try to limit this. (8/19)

Analyses were also adjusted for socio-demographic, lifestyle, and health factors. (9/19)

The average follow-up time was 9.8 years, during which 662 cases of dementia, including 466 of Alzheimer’s disease, were identified. #heartbreaking #dementia (10/19)

After adjustment, only low meat consumption (≤1 time/week) was associated with an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease compared with regular consumption (≥4 times/week). (11/19)

No association was found between the consumption of fish, raw fruits, or cooked fruits and #vegetables and the risk of #dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. (12/19)

These findings suggest that very low #meat consumption may increase the long-term risk of #dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and that previous studies may have been impacted by protopathic bias. (13/19)

So what's my point? You need to keep older people eating meat. You need to make sure they are zinc and other micronutrients sufficient so they continue to make the enzymes they need to digest meat. (14/19)

We need to get them off those PPI's that reduce their stomach acid and impair their ability to break the meat down into usable amino acids. (15/19)

And for goodness' sake, we need to educate them and their caregivers about brain hypometabolism and offer them ketogenic diets to rescue their cognitive function! (16/19)

Please. We are way past the offering of blueberries and salmon and expensive superfoods nestled next to pieces of cake and giving these people the impression they are doing everything they can. (17/19)

I want them to know all the ways they can feel better. And for early neurodegenerative processes, the ketogenic diet is definitely one of them. (18/19)

You can read about the study here:
Intake of Meat, Fish, Fruits, and Vegetables and Long-Term Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease (19/19)
content.iospress.com/articles/journ…