Today’s MailOnline reports that ‘Carboyhydrates rot the brain’ – this is according to a US neurologist, David Perimutter, who
says ‘The origin of
brain disease is in many cases predominantly dietary,’
His book, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About
Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar – Your Brain’s Silent Killers is not the only one to
demonize some of our favourite foods. Last year I found myself bombarded with
ads for Wheat Belly, written by another American doctor, William Davis. Its
sell was ‘lose the wheat, lose the weight.’ And I recently interviewed a woman
who did just that - losing three stone since Easter this year by giving up
wheat and being careful about most other carbs. She now lives on the kind of food that is frowned
upon in many circles – steak in cream sauce, egg and bacon, and loads of cheese
– yet not only has her weight gone down but her cholesterol has also plummeted,
from 7 to 5 in six months.
Is her
brain also sharper as a result? Only concerned with her weight at the time, this
wasn’t something I asked her – but a study published in Journal of Alzheimer’s
Disease found that elderly people who ate a high-carb diet were more than three
times as likely to develop mild cognitive impairment – which has been linked
with a higher risk of dementia.
According
to the Mail article:
People
whose diets were highest in ‘good’ fats, such as those found in nuts and
healthy oils were 42 per cent less likely to get cognitive impairment. Those
with a high intake of protein (such as meat and fish) had a reduced risk of 21
per cent.
Lead
author Rosebud Roberts, a professor in the department of epidemiology at the
Mayo Clinic, said: ‘A high-carbohydrate intake could be bad for you because
carbohydrates impact your glucose and insulin metabolism.
'Sugar
fuels the brain, so moderate intake is good. However, high levels of sugar may
actually prevent the brain from using the sugar - similar to what we see with
type 2 diabetes.’
She added
that high glucose levels might affect the brain's blood vessels and play a role
in the development of beta amyloid plaques, proteins toxic to brain health that
are found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. It’s thought these plaques
are a leading cause of the disease.
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