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Scientists test influence of diet on Alzheimer's disease

Updated: 2009-10-22 22:22:26 CST Category: General Health

by Brendan Missett

A high protein diet may shrink brain mass and be an exacerbating factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease, new research success.

A study published in the open access journal Molecular Neurodegeneration sought to examine the ways in which diet affected mice who expressed a precursor protein associated with Alzheimer's.

The research team, with members from the U.S., Canada, and the UK separated mice into four groups, each fed a different diet: a regular diet, a high fat/low carbohydrate diet, a high protein/low carbohydrate diet, and a high carbohydrate/low fat diet.

The scientists found that mice fed more protein had brains that were 5 percent lighter than all others. However, they remain unsure if the changes in weight were related to the brain plaque that is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

"Given the previously reported association of high protein diet with aging-related neurotoxicity, one wonders whether particular diets, if ingested at particular ages, might increase susceptibility to incidence or progression of AD," says lead author, Sam Gandy, a neurologist at the James J Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, about 5.3 million people in the U.S. are living with the disease.

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