Muscle Fat Linked to Cognitive Health [new study]

Muscle fat linked to cognitive decline ⤵️

This was just discovered, but it makes sense.

Researchers measured muscle fat in 1600+ adults in their 70s and tracked their cognitive function over 10 years. They found that increases in muscle fat from year 1 to year 6 were associated with greater cognitive decline over time.

This is the first time muscle fat has been linked to brain health, but I say it makes sense because muscle fat also correlates with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, which both increase dementia risk.

And ALL of these things relate to 🙌metabolism🙌.

👉 The takeaway here is that we MUST address metabolic health if we want to preserve brain health over the years.

Reference

Rosano C, Newman A, Santanasto A, Zhu X, Goodpaster B, Miljkovic I. Increase in skeletal muscular adiposity and cognitive decline in a biracial cohort of older men and women [published online ahead of print, 2023 Jun 7]. J Am Geriatr Soc. 202. [link]

Understanding Risk Factors for Dementia

🧠 Dementia. 

It’s one of the most tragic and terrifying things to witness in others and something nobody ever wishes to face themselves. 

While there are some risk factors we cannot control (like age and genetics), there are others that we CAN. 

📋 Now we have a new study showing that dementia risk increases from eating a diet high in processed foods.

Let’s look at the details. 

The study looked at data from more than 72,000 adults over the age of 55 in the United Kingdom. None had dementia at the start of the study, and they were followed for 10 years. 

🔹 Ultra-processed foods made up 9% of the diet in the lowest group and 28% of the diet in the highest group. 

🔹 For every 10% increase in daily intake of processed foods, there was a 25% higher risk of dementia.

🔹 Replacing 50 grams of processed foods with 50 grams of unprocessed foods (like an apple or a serving of corn) reduced dementia risk by 3%.

This was an observational study, which means it does not prove that processed foods cause dementia. It only shows there is an association between the two. 

Still. 

🍎 What do you have to lose by replacing a can of soda with a piece of fresh fruit?