How Bad is Saturated Fat for Alzheimer’s?

One of the most frequently mentioned statement in medical literature when discussing Alzheimer’s is: What is good for the heart is good for the brain. These articles center on the importance of the blood supply to the brain. The one most harmful food we eat as Americans that damages our arteries are the foods containing saturated fat. The two “bad fats” are saturated fat and trans fat. Trans fat is the worst but very few foods contain it so the big label to look for is the saturated fat. Eating the proper diet is one of the three lifestyles we control and should be developing habits of avoiding the saturated fatty foods. Here are the scary numbers as related to saturated fats. In a study comparing the ones who ate the most saturated fat in their diet compared with those who ate the lowest amount, the ones who ate the most had 2.2 times the risk of Alzheimer’s.

The reasoning for this is the damage saturated fat has on the health of our arteries. This fat causes the liver to produce more LDL cholesterol. This is the cholesterol that is most prevalent in damaging the arteries, whether of the heart or of the brain. LDL cholesterol is like splinters that get into the walls of the arteries and causes an inflammatory response or the formation of a scar type plaque. Such plaque formation can take place in the arteries leading to the brain or within the micro-arterial system within the brain.

I am going to give you a list of foods that give us the most saturated fat in a normal American diet that leads to damage to your arteries. These are foods you need to decide to abstain from. These are foods that you make habit of avoiding outright. Red meat, cheese, egg yolk, cream, butter, and fried foods. The one food we eat the most saturated fat from is cheese. It doesn’t have the most saturated fat of any food but it is the one we eat the most of than any other of the foods. Fried foods are usually fried in animal based oils which contain the saturated fat.

Make yourself some rules for the day and begin developing your habits for a quality life from now until the end.