How you like your steak cooked could be linked to an increased dementia risk
The more alive, the better.
Do you prefer your steak rare, medium rare or well done? New research suggests that the answer could determine how mentally sharp you stay as you age. Scientists have found that compounds known as glycotoxins, which form as we brown (or blacken) certain foods, can increase the risk of age-related dementia.
The results of this study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the US linked diets high in glycotoxins to age-related dementia, obesity and diabetes in both humans and mice.
The researchers found that the mice that were raised on a diet high in glycotoxins (specifically a type called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs), were more likely to develop dementia-like cognitive and movement problems as they aged than mice fed a low-glycotoxin diet. The mice fed a lot of AGEs also had increased amounts of amyloid beta proteins in their brains, which are the sticky proteins that form plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
They then monitored the amount of AGEs in the blood of 93 New Yorkers over the age of 60 for a period of nine months. During this time they also recorded how often the participants were eating glycotoxins and monitored their cognitive function and their insulin sensitivity. (Which is a major marker for the risk of metabolic syndromes such as diabetes and obesity.)
They found that the participants who had more AGEs in their blood over the course of the study experienced a far greater decrease in cognitive function as oppose to their peers, as well as reduced insulin sensitivity.
The participants diets weren’t monitored in the lab, so we don’t know exactly how many glycotoxins they ate, but the researchers believe that there’s now enough evidence to further investigate whether eating rarer meat could offer a simple way to reduce your risk of dementia and metabolic syndromes as you age.
But although the results are interesting, there’s still a lot more research to be done. “These studies are only preliminary and more evidence is required in the form of large scale epidemiological studies before we start recommending how to best cook our food,” Michael Woodward, a dementia researcher from Austin Health in Australia, told Dementia News.
“However, this study further adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests what you eat – for example highly fatty, fried and processed foods can be linked to diseases such as dementia, diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” he added.
So there you go guys! It makes good sense to me the more you cook your food the more enzymes and nutrients you cook with it..
I prefer medium rare myself… How do you like your steak?
Matt
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