{"id":497672,"date":"2026-03-27T04:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/497672\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:55:19","slug":"why-eating-more-meat-may-lower-risk-for-those-with-alzheimers-gene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/497672\/","title":{"rendered":"Why eating more meat may lower risk for those with Alzheimer’s gene"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"grilledShare on Pinterest<\/a>People with genetic Alzheimer\u2019s risk may benefit from upping meat consumption, a new study suggests. Image credit: Cavan Images\/Getty ImagesPeople with the APOE4 allele in the 4\/4 genotype had a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia if they consumed relatively high amounts of meat.Eating a greater proportion of unprocessed meat was also associated with less all-cause mortality among this group of people.The APOE4 allele is the strongest risk factor for developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

In a new observational study from Sweden, people with a genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a> had a lower risk of developing this form of dementia<\/a> if they consumed large amounts of meat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who ate more meat overall had significantly slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia, but only if they had the APOE 3\/4 or 4\/4 gene variants,\u201d said study author Jakob Norgren<\/a>, PhD, in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This finding might come as a surprise considering that most dietary advice<\/a> around preventing Alzheimer\u2019s or age-related cognitive decline has focused on eating plant foods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lack of dietary research into brain health,\u201d argued Norgren, \u201cand our findings suggest that conventional dietary advice may be unfavourable to a genetically defined subgroup of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study, published in JAMA Network Open<\/a>, was carried out by researchers from the Karolinska Institutet who analyzed data for 2,157 adults aged over 60 living in Stockholm in Sweden.<\/p>\n

Each person would have an assessment every 6 years until they reached the age of 78. After this point, they would have a check-up every 3 years.<\/p>\n

At every assessment, the participants would report:<\/p>\n

how much meat they had consumed over the previous yearwhat proportion of the total meat they had eaten was processed meathow much unprocessed red meat they had eaten compared with poultry<\/p>\n

Alongside this, the researchers looked for new diagnoses of dementia as well as data showing how cognitive functioning changed over time.<\/p>\n

The other key variable that the researchers were interested in was whether or not people had specific genetic variants or not. These gene variants were APOE 3\/4 and APOE 4\/4.<\/p>\n

APOE<\/a> is a gene that helps the body to make a particular type of protein that can combine with fats to make molecules called lipoproteins that play a role in cholesterol management.<\/p>\n

There are three different forms, or alleles, that APOE can take: APOE2, APOE3, and APOE4. As people inherit one allele from each of their parents, this means that there are six different possible variants: 2\/2, 2\/3, 2\/4, 3\/3, 3\/4, and 4\/4.<\/p>\n

The APOE4 allele is the strongest risk factor<\/a> for developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease. A significant number of people with the condition have the allele in the 4\/4 genotype<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study tested the hypothesis that people with APOE 3\/4 and 4\/4 would have a reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia with higher meat intake, based on the fact that APOE4 is the evolutionarily oldest variant of the APOE gene and may have arisen during a period when our evolutionary ancestors ate a more animal-based diet,\u201d said Norgren in the press release.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that cognitive decline and dementia prevalence among people with the APOE 3\/4 and 4\/4 genetic variants appeared to be tempered by the amount of meat they consumed.<\/p>\n

Among the people who ate the least meat, the ones with the APOE 3\/4 and 4\/4 variants had over twice the risk of dementia than those who did not have these variants.<\/p>\n

However, there was no increase in risk of dementia or cognitive decline among the people with these genetic variants who ate the most meat.<\/p>\n

The group that the researchers labeled as having the highest intake of meat ate an estimated 870 grams (g) of meat per week.<\/p>\n

The type of meat that the people ate also had an impact on outcomes, as co-author Sara Garcia-Ptacek<\/a> explained in the press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lower proportion of processed meat in total meat consumption was associated with a lower risk of dementia regardless of APOE genotype,\u201d Garcia-Ptacek said.<\/p>\n

Eating a greater proportion of unprocessed meat was also associated with less death among the people with the APOE genetic variants in a follow-up analysis.<\/p>\n

Medical News Today asked Norgren why he thought a higher intake of meat was associated with slower cognitive decline and a reduced risk of dementia for people with APOE 3\/4 and 4\/4.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage, we can only speculate,\u201d he told us. \u201cProtein intake didn\u2019t seem to explain the findings, so we carried out additional analyses looking at vitamin B12 levels in both diet and blood. We saw differences between APOE genotypes there as well, which suggests that how nutrients are delivered in foods\u2014the so-called food matrix\u2014may play a role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers point out that other studies have spotted similar patterns in large cohorts, with unprocessed red meat consumption having an impact for people with APOE4.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that this new study was an observational one, and so does not prove that the meat consumption was necessarily driving the changes in risk the researchers pointed out. Follow-up intervention studies will be the next step to dig deeper into this relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis type of investigation cannot prove that the meat consumption was the cause of reduced dementia risk as other factors such as socioeconomic status likely influence unprocessed meat consumption,\u201d said Tara Spires-Jones<\/a>, FMedSci, in a briefing for the media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Spires-Jones is the Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and was not involved with the study.<\/p>\n

As a lot of dietary advice for cognitive health focuses on diets that are high in plants and relatively low in meats, MNT asked Norgren what he thought about this in light of the study\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible that such recommendations still benefit a large proportion of the population,\u201d he said, \u201cbut our findings suggest that APOE 3\/4 and 4\/4 carriers may have different dietary needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince this genetic subgroup accounts for the majority of Alzheimer\u2019s cases, a potential mismatch between their specific needs and official dietary recommendations could have a large impact at the population level,\u201c Norgren added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf future research confirms these findings and allows us to develop more individualized recommendations, the potential for dementia prevention could be substantial,\u201d he told us.<\/p>\n

MNT also spoke with Steven Allder<\/a>, MD, a consultant neurologist at Re:Cognition Health who was not involved with the study, about the findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study reinforces the importance of a personalized approach,\u201d Allder said. \u201cWhile plant-focused diets remain broadly beneficial, the optimal balance of protein sources, including lean meats, may differ based on genetics, cardiovascular risk, and lifestyle.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than universally restricting meat, clinicians and individuals should consider overall dietary quality, nutrient density, and individual tolerance. In practice, a flexible, nutrient-rich diet that prioritizes whole foods while accommodating individual variation is likely to offer the most sustainable benefits for cognitive health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Steven Allder, MD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share on PinterestPeople with genetic Alzheimer\u2019s risk may benefit from upping meat consumption, a new study suggests. Image…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[915,854,59,102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-497672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-dementia","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}