A healthy lifestyle and a high-quality diet have been associated with substantially lowering risk for Alzheimer’s diseases. Research from a cross-university team has now found that there may be an association between eating eggs, in particular, and a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s dementia.
The main aim of the research was to investigate the association between habitual egg consumption and Alzheimer’s dementia risk using data from participants enrolled in the Ruch Memory and Aging Project Cohort, an ongoing longitudinal prospective cohort in the U.S. that enrolled 2,252 participants without apparent dementia.
The study followed 1,024 people, with an average age of 81.4 years. Participants dietary habits were self-reported and other dietary factors were accounted for.
The findings suggest that frequent egg consumption is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia and Alzheimer’s disease pathology and the association with Alzheimer’s dementia is partially mediated through dietary choline.
The researchers noted that dietary choline was the main driver of the relationship between eggs - one of the few naturally rich in choline commonly consumed foods - and lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia – accounting for 39% of the association.
While the study found an association with reduced risk of Alzheimer dementia, it did not, however, establish cause-effect. It should also be remembered that the study relied on self-reported data from the participants, which could have included errors.
The researchers noted that, as far as they were aware, no prior studies had investigated the association between egg consumption and the risk of Alzheimer dementia in a community cohort of older adults in the U.S.
Prevention in absence of cure
Nutrition is of growing area of interest in the prevention or delay of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease with studies ranging from including specific foods to following particular diets, and numerous trials are ongoing.
The need to better understand Alzheimer’s and find ways to prevent or delay is becoming ever-more pressing. There remains no cure and a study published in medical journal The Lancet in 2022 predicts that over 150 million globally people could be living with dementia by 2050. Currently, Alzheimer’s disease is thought to account for 60-70% all dementia cases.
The cross-university study looking at egg consumption was, in part, supported by funds from the Egg Nutrition Center, the science and nutrition education division of egg industry association the American Egg Board.
