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Scientists Link Fast Food to Alzheimer's

Diets high in fat and cholestrol may contribute to dementia

December 1, 2008

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Swedish researchers say the fat, sugar and cholesterol found in most franchised fast food products could increase the risk of Alzheimer's Disease. Their findings followed research conducted on mice.

"On examining the brains of these mice, we found a chemical change not unlike that found in the Alzheimer brain," said Susanne Akterin, a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, who led the study.

Laboratory mice were kept on a fast-food diet for nine months. Within that time period, the mice displayed the same sorts of abnormal brain "tangles" that are normally associated with Alzheimer's disease, an incurable form of dementia.

Writing about the results, the researchers said they suspect that a diet high in fat and cholesterol, when combined with certain genetic factors, could be a contributor to Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's research has intensified in recent years as a large portion of the population, the baby boomers, ages and becomes at risk. A number of promising new developments have been reported in the last two years, mostly focusing on removing collections of protein plaque in the brain.

Akterin and colleagues are taking a different tack, focusing on genetic features of some people that may make them more vulnerable to the disease. The team studied a gene variant called apoE4 which has been shown to increase the risk of Alzheimer's. The gene plays a role in the movement of cholesterol through the body.

The research used genetically-engineered mice to copy the effect of the variant gene in humans. The mice's diet was designed to resemble a human diet heavy on fast-food.

Akterin said the mice showed chemical changes in their brains, suggesting an unusual build-up of the protein.

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