When it comes to brain health, forgetfulness can often manifest as serious conditions like Alzheimer's disease and other brain-related issues like dementia, to name a few. While medical science still has no sure-shot cure for such diseases, there are certainly some science-backed ways to prevent the progression of such conditions. Here’s all you need to know and why studies show that there’s a link between brain health and diet.
Understanding Alzheimer's DiseaseRecently people have been talking about eggs. A new study using data from the Adventist Health Study-2 has given us new information about eggs and brain health. Alzheimer's disease is a condition that gets worse over time. It happens when bad things build up in the brain and brain cells die. This causes people to lose their ability to think and remember things. It is a bad condition that can cause death. In the United States it is one of the causes of death. The cost of taking care of people with Alzheimer's disease is very high. As per some studies, people who do not eat meat are more likely to get dementia than people who do eat meat. This is interesting because people who do not eat meat are generally healthier.
This has made scientists want to look at foods that come from animals like eggs. Some studies have shown that eating eggs might help prevent brain problems.
How the study was conducted?The people who did this study looked at data from the Adventist Health Study-2. They also used information from Medicare. They only looked at people who were 65 years old or more. They had 39,498 people in the study. At the start of the study people filled out a questionnaire about what they ate. They were asked about eggs and other foods. The study lasted for 15.3 years. During this time the researchers looked at how many people got Alzheimer's disease. They also looked at what happened when people ate foods instead of eggs.
Study findings
During the study, 2,858 people got Alzheimer's disease. The researchers found that people who ate eggs were less likely to get Alzheimer's disease. If people ate eggs, they were 17% to 27% less likely to get Alzheimer's disease than people who did not eat eggs.
The researchers also found that:
- Eating eggs one to three times a month or once a week made people 17% less likely to get Alzheimer's disease.
- Eating eggs five or more times a week made people 27% less likely to get Alzheimer's disease.
- Eating one or more eggs per day made people 26% less likely to get Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers did not find any difference in the benefits of eating eggs for men and women or for people of races. They also found that people who never ate eggs were more likely to get Alzheimer's disease than people who ate one egg per week.
Why Eggs Might be Good for the Brain
The researchers think that eggs might be good for the brain because they have good nutrients. Eggs have:
- Choline
- DHA
- Lutein and zeaxanthin
- Phospholipids
- Vitamin B12
These things are good for the brain. Help keep it healthy.
More about the condition
The researchers said that their study had some limitations. They could not prove that eating eggs directly prevents Alzheimer's disease. They also did not know what people ate over time or what they ate at the start of the study.